For Wilshire Baptist Church
The headline was “Dress Your Age,” and the article that followed coached women on what age they should quit wearing certain fashions. I learned two things in scanning the article: there are styles I know nothing about, and the fashion police are not to be trifled with.
But I understand their point. There’s no good reason why a 40-year-old woman should be dressing like she’s 16. Nor should a 50-something man dress like he’s crossing the college quad. It seems self-evident to me, but some people apparently are in denial about their physical age.
Some fashions force the issue. On a recent visit to Nordstrom Rack to check out their suits, I tried on a few jackets and quickly found that all were slim fit or skinny fit or whatever the proper name is. Basically, the sleeves don’t reach the wrists, the jacket doesn’t cover the bottom, and the buttons barely button. I don’t know who decided this is a good look, but the last time a suit fit me that way it meant I had outgrown it and it was time to take it to Goodwill. The style is not for me. I really don’t think it’s for anyone, but definitely not for me.
Still, we all age differently. We have a physical age, but we also have a mental, emotional and spiritual age. There is some societal expectation that we act our age in all those categories. What’s more, we tend to measure each other by what we can see and experience – the physical and mental age, perhaps – but we can only guess about each other’s emotional and spiritual ages. That’s where we get into so much trouble with our judgments. We don’t have a clue what’s going on inside another’s skin, let alone inside their slim fit suit.
That’s especially true with spiritual age. There’s a term some Christians use to describe those who are just starting the faith journey or who they believe have been traveling a long time but have not progressed: baby Christian. It’s often used in a pejorative manner, but I believe that ignores the fact that God brings us all along at different speeds and in different ways. What looks like childish faith might actually be childlike faith, and there’s a huge difference. One is self-centered and the other is selfless, as in, “your will, and not mine, be done.”
In the end God alone truly knows our age. God alone dresses us spiritually for life. Others might help us accessorize, but God knows the sizes and styles that suit us best. That’s true on dress-up days like Easter and every other day as well.