Clothes, Dignity, and Honor: Exodus 28; Psalm 31:9-18; Proverbs 8:12-13

Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron, to give him dignity and honor. – Exodus 28:2

 

Bernard Madoff has nice clothes. Does that mean he has dignity and honor? This man who allegedly has confessed to a $50 million Ponzi scheme—do his clothes keep him above reproach?

 

Today we might question the legitimacy of Exodus 28:2. We don’t believe that clothes make the man. Because they don’t.

 

So what was God saying? Our God, who knows men’s hearts more intimately than men do, surely knew that honorable, dignified clothes wouldn’t make honorable, dignified men!

 

And of course, God did know these things. But God was appointing Aaron and his sons to represent Himself. And God is a God of honor and dignity. His people are to represent Him with honor and dignity. This honor and dignity is given to us. It begins as God allows us to enter a relationship with Him, forgiving our sins. It extends to our hearts and minds as God goes beyond forgiving us to teaching us how to live life with goodness and love. It goes beyond our minds and hearts to our actions and words as God disciplines us and instills discipline in us so that we begin to do His will habitually. God makes His people honorable. God gives His people dignity. Without God, they would have none.

 

So when God commands sacred clothes for Aaron “to give him dignity and honor,” God is commanding the Israelites to continue growing in what He has already begun. The God who has honor and dignity works in His people to make them honorable and dignified. His people are to represent Him, and the honor and dignity He gives must show up on the outside, too, where everyone can see it.

 

Let’s do everything we can to represent our God with honor and dignity, all the while realizing that what we do outwardly means nothing apart from what God does inwardly.

 

Father, make me an honorable, dignified man so that I can represent You well. Whether I’m wearing snazzy clothes or work clothes, may people see that You are honorable and dignified because of Your work in me and through me. You deserve the best representation I can give You—and I can only represent You as You work in me. Do Your work in me.