"Be careless in your dress if you will, but keep a tidy soul." - Mark Twain
For a long time I had this image of the typical Christian man. He usually wore a white short sleeve shirt, through which you could see his undershirt, and he always wore a tie. Oftentimes he wore blue or brown polyester pants. If he wore glasses, they were always plain, black frames.
When Amy and I got married, I bought some typical Christian-guy shoes.
They're shiny black Wingtips, with little perforation marks around them in a pattern. Very conservative.
Mine are actually also very cheap. They're knock offs from PayLess, because when I bought them I knew that I would never wear them except to special, "Dress like a Christian" occasions.
I wore them to our wedding, to a couple of funerals, and I think to a banquet at a large church that was giving our little church money. I still have those shoes. They don't have a lot of miles on them.
I still meet a lot of Christian men who adhere to that particular code of dress. That's a good thing in many ways. I don't mean to deride those folks at all.
I see them and immediately think, "There goes a conservative Christian."
I'm also a conservative Christian.
When people see me, that's probably not the first thought that crosses their mind though. I may not be in short sleeves, a tie, and polyester, but I'm no fashion plate, that's for certain. I think if one were to drop my name into a word association therapy session regarding style, the word disheveled would probably crop up more often then I'd prefer.
I was once in a meeting at my office and someone mentioned I was a Baptist church Deacon and there was an audible gasp. The newly hired sports guy had been spewing forth a string of profanity moments before and felt awkward. He looked at me and said, "You're kidding?"
I assured him it was true. I was a Baptist, and a Deacon.
Later, that sports guy tracked me down and apologized for swearing in front of me. I laughed. I told him it was okay and I admitted I swear occasionally too.
We agreed that he could feel free to be himself in front of me as long as I could be myself in front of him.
I also warned him to be wary...a lot of Christians are sneaking around out of uniform.
Romans 13:12
So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
