My sister was the oldest of the three of us. She was good at getting us to do “her thing.” She even got my brother and me to play “dress up” with her. We’d all put on dresses (yes! dresses) and show Mom and Dad. It’s pretty silly, I know! I have a picture of the three of us from 1956. My Dad thought it was so funny. He laughed and laughed and made us stand there until he got his flashbulbs out and his camera ready, which took forever so he could take pictures of us. He would use them later to humiliate my brother and me. That was not the only time I found myself playing dress-up like that. When we crossed the Equator in 1974, we polliwogs were initiated into Neptune’s “realm of the deep” by the shellbacks (those who’ve crossed before and were previously initiated). We went through many humiliating practices that day—one of those gestures involved playing dress up again. Yes, after 20 years, my sister got her wish, and I ended up putting a dress on again. I hate playing dress-up!
In Colossians 3:11, Paul explains that all our differences are undone! I couldn’t help but think of how each of these titles would be recognizable in society by the way they were dressed. He includes Greek, Jew, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free men. You’d know by looking at them which they were. But Paul goes on to say that in Christ, these differences don’t exist. He says in verse 12 of Chapter 3, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” All good Christians should learn how to play dress up! I’m not always compassionate. I’m not always kind. I’m not always humble, meek, or patient. But Paul insists that I put them on! You should be able to tell a child of God by what they wear!
By the way, there will be one great “dress up” fashion show in the end. Paul writes to the Corinthians in his first letter to them, 1 Corinthians 15:53-54, “For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory.” The Colossians passage has more about dressing up also. In Colossians 3:9-10 we read, “Seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices…put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”