Many years ago, when I worked in the sales department of a newspaper and in my first management position, I was asked to speak to a journalism class at the University of Southern Mississippi.
This was a time when classified advertising was a large portion of the newspaper’s advertising revenue and I was to explain to the students why people used it to sell their personal items. It was also a time before cell phones and computers. This great industry has changed tremendously since those days.
This was also a day and time when anyone in sales had contact with the outside world, wore a coat and tie along with shined shoes. Image was a big product for the appearance of the newspaper you were representing.
As I sat in the professor’s office waiting for class to begin, I noticed the shoes I was wearing. I had two pair of shoes, at home, that were exactly alike. One was a dark brown and the other black. As you have guessed by now, I had one brown shoe and one black shoe on that morning.
It was an embarrassing moment for me, but I kept my mistake to myself and went before the class with my presentation. No one noticed or they didn’t make mention of it to me. Maybe it was because I stood behind the professor’s desk the entire time.
Life is quite different today. It seems that our society has changed about acceptance of who we are and what we wear. I am not saying anything is wrong with this but the idea of projecting an image to impress someone or some company is no longer needed in many areas of life. Some people seem to not care anymore about appearance, hygiene, and speech. It is a world of accept me as I am.
We are seeing this type of behavior not only in our schools, but in our workplaces, shopping malls, and even our churches. There is certainly nothing wrong with what we wear to church if we go to worship the Lord and fellowship with other Christians. What is wrong is how we project ourselves to the world on the outside of the church walls and to our peers in the world. It isn’t what we wear but how we conduct ourselves. Many of us use different personalities and our integrity becomes a question mark. Are we becoming mismatched Christians? We are the same person, but are we displaying different styles of our self, depending on where we are and who we are around? We are told by the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:2; “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
The world tries to impress on us to be different than the Christians we are supposed to be. This is probably the worst witness any Christian can have when we say one thing and then act differently from what we say. The Bible is very explicit on how we are to conduct ourselves once we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Some people in the world will chastise you for it but when our life ends, where do we want to spend eternity.
Some habits never change. I continue to buy dress shoes that are alike but different colors and you have probably guessed by now; I wore different colors to church one Sunday. I realized what I had done and slipped out of the building, went home, changed to the same color shoes, and then returned to my class. It is my sincere hope that I never allow my Christian principles to be compromised when I am out in public away from the church walls.
