Step Six: Dress the part

Sorry for the tantalizing "back in the saddle" post followed by a fortnight of silence. (I, like Demetri Martin enjoy waiting two weeks before doing anything just so 'fortnight' will be appropriate.)

Lately I've been thinking about how to put my apologetics degree to good use. One of my ideas is to produce short (10-15 minute) podcasts aimed at college and high school students. The wisdom of this endeavor aside, it has caused me to try thinking up names for the show (to let you know how awful I am at things like this, the front runner right now is Short Answers for Short People). One of the (quickly) discarded names was "Rockstar Apologetics," which I tossed because I assumed the unwashed masses wouldn't be clever enough to know that I was being ironic. Part of the reason for this is that I look a bit rockstarish, or at least like I'm trying to look that way. I have tattoos and earrings and can sometimes be seen wearing hip clothes. Before dismissing the Rockstar name I had time to think "I would have to look more geeky for this to work."

It was this thought that stuck out in my mind. I immediately recalled a friend who is an actual rockstar and has sprinted to the other end of the spectrum lest anyone imagine that he too is trying. There is an entire hipster subculture which some have labeled the poorgeoisie, marked by gross beards and ugly old clothes that has sprung from seemingly similar circumstances; almost as if by trying to flee every other in-group a certain brand of hipsters have created their own.

The issue for Christians is this: we often fail to dress the part, and sometimes for similar reasons. While the Word tells us to put on the armor of God (Eph 6) and that all who have been Baptized into Christ have clothed themselves with Christ (Gal 3:27) we frequently find ourselves wearing worldly threads. Sometimes this manifests as fear in the face of judgment, an unwillingness to stand up for truth because we might be perceived as corny at best or hypocritical at worst. Other times we wear the worlds clothes because they seem to fit better. Like a pair of tight pants after the holidays our holiness doesn't suit us during the week if we're used to leaving it behind on Sundays.

As usual, there is no concrete application - no matter how hard we try we cannot make a law for ourselves that will grant either freedom or justification. Instead my aim is to remember the exhortations from the Word to put on God's armor and be clothed in Christ, praying that the Holy Spirit will speak louder than my flesh in times when I need to take a stand for something. Whatever you do, don't put yourself in the position of silencing the voice of the Spirit because you're afraid that someone will think (or say!) that you're a hypocrite. First, this insult opens the door for deep and meaningful conversation about sanctification and sin in the life of a believer and second, it is likely true. Follow God down the hard path, and for goodness sake try not to talk yourself into being cool by thinking "the world has seen so many dorky Christians, I just want to let people know they can be themselves" because they're probably all pretending too.