Get Dressed!

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!

Earlier this week, I listened to a sermon by Pastor Joel Osteen  titled "Clothed with Love." This message struck a deep nerve with me. I have listened to it several times, and I felt convicted to share it all with you. While last week’s Happy Friday was possibly the shortest ever, this one will undoubtedly be the longest ever.

Below is the entire transcript from the message. I got this from Sermons Love, and you can watch the entire message if you would like here: https://sermons.love/joel-osteen/25724-joel-osteen-clothed-with-love.html

“Clothed with Love in a Noisy World
I want to talk to you today about "clothed with love". There's so much noise in our society. Opinions can become like weapons. People that are argumentative, judgmental, divisive. Everyone has a platform. Through social media, you can speak your mind, set people straight, call them out, insult them. Being harsh, rude, shocking can become normal to us. The more we see it, the more desensitized we are. If we're not careful, we'll become like what's around us. We'll think it's okay to attack, belittle, insult. Everyone's doing it. But God has called us to live by a higher standard, to be the exception.

Don't let all the noise, the hate, the disrespect, people who are loud and abrasive, don't let that poison get in you. Don't become like your environment. Don't let that poison get in you. Colossians 3 says, you must clothe yourself with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowances for people's faults and forgive the person who offends as Christ has forgiven you.

Paul was saying, you have to get dressed each morning in the right clothes. Clothe yourself. Clothes don't jump on you. You have to choose to put them on. Put on kindness. I'm going to be nice and friendly today. Put on gentleness. I'm going to be easygoing and understanding. Put on mercy. I'm going to make allowances when people don't perform perfectly. I'm going to give them grace when they make mistakes.

Choosing the Right Spiritual Garments Daily
Put on humility. I'm not going to go around arrogant, looking down on people. I'm going to treat everyone with respect. Put on respect. Put on patience. I want to stay in peace when things don't go my way. Put on forgiveness. I'm not going to hold a grudge, living offended. I'm going to forgive those that do me wrong. After Paul listed all these qualities that we need to put on each day, he finished by saying, and the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love.

You would think he would say the most important thing is faith. You can't please God without faith. Or truth. It's the truth that sets people free. Or justice. You have to stand up for those that don't have a voice. Help the less fortunate. Those are all good. We should put them on, but the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Because without love, the others aren't as effective. You can be right. You know the other person is wrong. You have the facts. Here's the truth. But without love, it's just noise.

That's what Paul said in First Corinthians: "If I speak with the tongue of men or the tongue of angels and have not love, I am only a loud clanging cymbal." One version says a noisy gong. He was saying you can be gifted, articulate, powerful, have all this impressive knowledge. But without love, you're just a lot of noise. Just a lot of noise. Just a lot of clanging. Not effective. Not changing anything.

Why Love Matters More Than Being Right
A lot of people are sincere. They're passionate. But they're not speaking the truth in love. They're not putting on the most important piece. They become offended, argumentative, disrespectful. They wonder why they're not effective. Why they don't have more influence. There's no love. It's ego, pride, competition, making others look bad so they'll look good. Those are not true. Those are not things God is going to bless. You may be right, but where's the love? Where's the kindness? Where is being merciful and understanding?

You can be gentle without being weak. You can be kind and strong at the same time. You don't have to be harsh and condescending and hateful because someone doesn't agree. Start attacking, confronting. Love is more powerful than loudness. Truth spoken softly is more powerful than yelling at someone. Being offensive, insulting to prove a point, criticizing someone back, that's sinking down to their level.

Do yourself a favor. Put on your coat of love. See, Jesus was strong, but he was kind. He had the truth, but he was merciful. He was God, better than any of us. Never made a mistake, but he walked in humility. He washed people's feet and served others when he could have been served. And yes, he got upset. He threw people out of the temple, but it wasn't out of bitterness and hatred. I'm going to prove to you and push you down. He didn't want to see people being taken advantage of.

Love in Action: Jesus' Perfect Example
Now, I'm not saying to not be passionate and to never stand strong, but you should do it out of love and not out of anger and ego and competition. If you don't have love, your good intentions are going to turn into clanging cymbals. A lot of noise, but little impact. Being loud doesn't equate to being effective. Being harsh, argumentative, trying to force your opinion. You may be right. You have the truth, but you can do it the wrong way and still be wrong.

And I'm not talking about just in a debate or with someone online. How about in your marriage? How about with your children? Are you putting on love? Making allowances for their weaknesses? Or are you harsh? Looking for reasons to correct and prove that you're right? Are you forgiving the wrongs as Christ forgave us? Are you holding a grudge? Making them pay? Giving them the cold shoulder? After all, they were at fault. They deserve it. How about putting on some mercy? How about putting on some gentleness? Be understanding.

The mercy you show others is the mercy God is going to show you. I was in my backyard one afternoon watering the plants. We have some flowers in these big pots and I'd gotten some of the weeds out and put new dirt in. I was hot and sweaty and I'd worked out earlier that morning. Exercise, rode my bike. Victoria came out and said, "Joel, we need to run up to the store and pick something up." Piece of equipment she had ordered.

A Personal Story: What Your "Clothes" Communicate
Well, I was in my workout  clothes. My jeans were on. My gym shorts and this blue t-shirt that I always wear. My children kid me that it's my uniform. I've had it like 47 years and the collar's all stretched out, faded, straggly on one side. I have other shirts, but that's the one I like. And I told Victoria, "I can't go anywhere. I'm not dressed. I'd have to go in, take a shower, put some better clothes on." She said, "No, Joel, you don't have to get out of the car. They're going to put it in the back for us."

So we got there. They loaded it in the trunk. All was good. But as we were driving away, Victoria saw this other store. When she gets close to a mall, there's an unseen force that tries to pull her in. She said, "Joel, let's go in there real quick. I've been wanting to. There's something I really want to see." I said, "No, Victoria, I am not dressed. That's a nice place. I'll go in Home Depot. I'll go to Walmart, but I'm not going in there."

She said, "Joel, you're fine. You look great." I said, "Joel, you're fine. You look great." I'm either so dumb or so naive. She talked me into going. When she said I look great, I lost all sense of reasoning. We walked in, and it was a nice store. There were three salespeople there to greet us. Two men and a woman. The men were dressed in the finest suits, impeccable, shoes shined. The woman was in a beautiful pantsuit, elegant, sophisticated. Looked like they had just stepped out of a fashion magazine. Looked like I had just stepped out of a farming magazine.

The first thing the man said was, "Oh, Pastor Joel, we've never seen you like this." We all laughed and laughed. I thought, yeah, and you're about to have never seen me another way if you keep laughing. Here's my point. When I walked in, I hadn't said a word, but my clothes sent a message. What I was wearing communicated something to them. Not only that, what I had on was affecting me. I didn't feel good about going in. I knew I wasn't dressed appropriately.

The Unseen Clothing: Attitudes That Speak Louder Than Words
People read your  clothing before you say a word. They form impressions before you open your mouth. Depending on how you dress, casually, fun, sophisticated, dressy, that's all communicating something. If you're dressed sloppy, clothes wrinkled, don't fit, out of style, risqué, those are all sending a message about you. Well, that's the physical, in the seen, but it's the same in the unseen. When you put on kindness, gentleness, humility, mercy, you're sending a message to people. Before you say a word, they can sense who you are.

It's creating this impression, love, goodness, respect, that draws people in, that gives you favor, that brings healthy relationships. And sure, the opposite is true. If you get dressed with pride, competition, bitterness, sarcasm, that's how people are reading you. You're projecting it without saying a word. You know how it is. You can sense when someone is arrogant, when they're unfriendly, when they have a chip on their shoulder. You can sum them up in no time by the feeling and how they carry themselves.

In the same way, you know when you have the wrong clothes on. I knew my shirt was old. I knew my gym shorts were dirty. It's the same way in the unseen. You know when you have a bad attitude, when you're condescending, when you're harsh, you won't forgive. It's not just sending a message to others, but it doesn't feel right to you. You don't like who you are. You may get used to it, talk yourself into it, but deep down there's an unrest, an uneasiness. It's because that's not who you were created to be.

You were created to put on love, kindness, gentleness, being merciful, overlooking faults. And sometimes you have  clothes that don't fit anymore. You've grown out of, they're too small, the wrong style. You put them away and get clothes that fit. Maybe you've worn being judgmental, critical and jealous for a long time. Or you put on a coat of pride, bitterness, hard to get along with. That was fine for a while, but now you're growing out of them. God is calling on you. You have to do your part and have a wardrobe change.

Time for a Spiritual Wardrobe Change
Can I tell you, bitterness doesn't look good on you. That sour attitude smells bad. You don't have to say anything. You're pushing people away. The pride or having to always be right, that doesn't fit you anymore. The jealousy, holding on to an offense, that's out of style. Those clothes are over and done. How about a spring cleaning? Don't even send them to Goodwill. Put them in the trash. Put on love. Put on kindness, gentleness, friendliness, understanding, respect. That's the wardrobe God designed for you.

He's your tailor. He knows what fits, what's in style, what's going to make you look good, what's going to be effective. Do you know how it is in fashion? There's always some knockoff brands and some imitations. Not quite the same, but they're good enough. It's kind of close. Don't be fooled. The enemy has his own clothing line. He'll tell you, hey, this pride is going to look better on you. This jealousy, it's the hottest thing going. This greed, being self-centered, only thinking about you, this will look amazing on you. This judgment, being critical, insulting people, this is just your size. Look how flashy it is.

Don't put on that integrity. That's boring. Kindness, patience, mercy. That's old school. That's outdated. Don't fall for his lies. He has fake merchandise. When you put on the wardrobe God designed for you, you'll not only feel better, but you are projecting the right things to those around you. You'll draw in good people, favor and opportunity. You'll be more effective.

Lessons from a Father's Example and Scripture
I saw this with my father. He taught me by example how to put on a coat of love. He was kind. He was kind and merciful. Even back in the 1950s when he was pastoring that church and they didn't understand his new direction and they didn't want him anymore, they asked him to leave. He was never bitter. He never talked bad about the people. Didn't go around with a chip on his shoulder. He was merciful. He forgave them and moved on.

He wasn't accepted anymore in his traditional denomination. There were friends and colleagues he'd gone to school with. And they were no longer for him. They didn't want to have any contact. Like they would be contaminated, couldn't get around him. He said, "Joel, they drew a circle to shut me out, but I drew a bigger circle to shut them in." You can't stop hurt from coming, betrayal, people that are unfair. But when you have your coat of love on, when you're merciful, forgiving, making allowances for people's shortcomings, it doesn't poison you. You keep enjoying your life. And being good to people, drawing in the favor of God.

James 2 says, whatever you say and whatever you do, remember, you will be judged by the law of love. It doesn't say we're going to be judged by how many arguments we won, how many people we corrected, how perfect our doctrine was, how successful we were. No, we're going to be judged by, were you wearing your coat of love? Were you good to people? Are you merciful, kind, forgiving? Did you walk in humility, patience and generosity?

James said, whatever you do, and whatever you say, that means before you post it on social media, before you express your opinion, before you confront someone, ask yourself, am I doing this out of love, out of kindness, gentleness, or are you doing it out of hurt, out of anger, jealousy... I don't believe you. I don't want them to look better than me. I'm going to say something demeaning or I'm not going to let this co-worker get away with being rude to me. I'm going to be rude back to him.

Overcoming Evil with Good, Not More Noise
There's no blessing when you're doing things out of spite, ill will, bitterness. That's going to drag you down and make life more difficult. And this is the way many people live. Disrespect for disrespect. You hurt me, I'm going to hurt you. They're a loud clanging cymbal. We try to answer back with loud clanging cymbals. Let's be louder, harsher, more disrespectful. That's not the way to win. The scripture says you overcome evil with good. When you're kind to those that are not kind to you, Proverbs says it's like you're heaping coals of fire on their head.

When you stay in love, God will fight your battles. He'll vindicate you better than you can vindicate yourself. First Corinthians says love never fails. It doesn't say strength never fails. Being right never fails. Proving your point. No, love never fails. Love brings down walls. Love heals, restores, protects. Love will help you keep your heart pure.

Jesus had a lot of people against him. Critics, naysayers, religious leaders that were jealous. But he didn't spend a lot of time arguing with people, getting into heated debates, trying to prove who he was. He let his actions speak. When he was brought before Pilate, all these false accusations, the scripture says he answered him not a word. He knew they weren't going to change their mind, that they were determined to misunderstand him.

And sometimes we're trying to win over people that are never going to be for us. We're getting all riled up trying to convince them to change and see it from our point of view. We have to accept it's okay if someone doesn't agree. It's okay if they're not for us. You don't need everyone to be for you to fulfill your destiny. And it's really easy to get baited into conflict, argumentative, angered, frustrated, because they're not changing their mind. They're insulting, saying things that aren't true.

Some battles you're not supposed to fight. It's a distraction to try to get you off course, wasting time, stressed over something that you can't control. In the big picture, it's not going to stop your purpose. Jesus didn't answer every critic. He didn't try to change every person's mind. The enemy would love to deceive us into becoming loud, clanging cymbals. You have the truth. You know you're right, but you got bent out of shape, aggravated.

It takes maturity to not get drawn into the wrong battles, because human nature wants to fight, defend, stand up. There are times that's important. But it's not always the case. Those are the  clothes he's designed for us to wear. But sometimes we're wearing knockoffs or hand-me-downs. I got this pride jacket, Joel, from my relatives. This temper, this harshness, it was passed down from my family. My father used to wear it. He was angry. My grandmother gave me this coat. She was jealous. She was bitter.

No, those clothes don't look good on you. Their day is over. It's time to get a new wardrobe. Your heavenly father is an amazing designer. He's already created custom-made clothing just for you. Kindness, gentleness, humility, forgiveness, patience, and the most important piece that you must wear, your clothing of love. Don't leave home without it. If you forget to put that on, bitterness will show up, offense, judgment, jealousy.

Love Shown Through Actions, Not Just Words
First John says, let us stop saying we love each other and let us start showing it by our actions. Paul was saying, talk is cheap. You can say all day long you love me, but if you won't forgive me, if you won't quit being jealous, if you won't stop talking behind my back, there's no proof that you love me. Love is action. There should be evidence that you love people. Express your love all through the day. It may just be a smile, to a stranger, someone passing by. You could ignore them, look down, but you acknowledge them. You're saying, I see you. You're valuable. I care about you. You just deposited something in them.

It may be bringing your coworker a cup of coffee in the morning or filling your wife's car up with gasoline so she doesn't have to. Love should be seen. People that God's put in your life should have some evidence that you love them. It's good to tell them. Words are important, but words alone are not enough. There should be some good deeds of how you're being a blessing. It may be when that friend makes a mistake and hurts your feelings, you could be upset, make them pay, but you're merciful. You let it go and don't try to make them feel guilty. That's love in action.

I was at the grocery store one time and this young woman was at the cash register. It's very crowded and lines were backed up and she was very slow. She was new and didn't know how to work. Everything is taking forever. Well, there were several people in front of me and they were getting very upset, very impatient, and they let her know, making comments, harsh, condescending. But I want to live my life being a part of the solution and not the problem, lifting people up and not putting them down. People already have enough hurts, enough things to overcome and things that we don't know anything about. They don't need another condemning voice, judgment. Come on, do better. Can't you get it right?

No, God put them in your path so you can be a healer, a lifter, a restorer. When I got up there, I simply said, "You're doing great. Everything's going to be fine and we appreciate you being here." I'll never forget. Tears started running down her face. She said, "I'm not going to cheat you." She said, "My baby is in the hospital. I'm so worried. I can't really concentrate on what I'm doing." We took a moment to pray right then and there. You don't know what people are going through. We can be quick to judge, quick to criticize, but if you were to walk in their shoes, you'd probably have more mercy. You'd be more understanding.

Jesus Modeling Love in Every Encounter
The world needs more love. We have a lot of division, strife, people arguing, trying to push them down, prove their point. God is counting on us to express his love, to show his kindness, his mercy. You can help heal, restore, and put people back on their feet. It doesn't happen through judgment, pride, impatience, holding grudges. That's the wrong clothing. All through the scripture, we can see how Jesus didn't just teach about love, but he wore love. He modeled it.

He saw Zacchaeus, a despised tax collector. They were known for their dishonesty. Society had written him off, but Jesus called him out of the crowd and said, "I want to go to your house and have dinner with you today." Jesus went to others. Jesus went to people that others thought were too far gone. Love in action. Or how about when the leper came to Jesus, fell at his feet and said, "Jesus, if you want to, you can heal me." Well, lepers were unclean, contagious. They were supposed to keep their distance. Here, this man put Jesus at risk. He'd broken protocol and gone against safety requirements.

Jesus could have been upset. Get him away from me. You're going to get me infected. But Jesus bent down and touched the man. I can hear the gasp in the crowd. Can you believe it? He's going to get leprosy. The scripture says instantly the man's skin was made whole. Love that can be seen. How about on the cross after being betrayed and mocked? Jesus was up there in great pain. He could have been bitter, angry, but he said, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing."

Showing love is not just being kind to people, but it's forgiving wrongs, not holding grudges, being merciful. Is there someone you need to forgive today? Family member, you need to let off the hook. Joel, they're guilty. They did me wrong. Only the guilty need mercy. We're not going to be judged by how right we are, how much faith we have, but by the law of love.

Just like you get dressed each morning physically, you need to get dressed spiritually. Put on kindness, humility, gentleness, respect, and then the most important piece of  clothing you must wear is love. Let all you do and all you say run through the filter of love. Not pride, not judgment, not offense, but love.

Maybe today you need to change your wardrobe. You've been wearing a sour attitude, being harsh, jealous. None of that looks good on you. That's outdated. That's the wrong designer. The good news is there's a new wardrobe waiting just for you, already paid for, just your size. Now do your part and start clothing yourself in love. If you'll do this, I believe and declare, you're not only going to feel better about who you are, more peace, more confidence, but you're going to be more effective, have better relationships, and see the goodness of God in greater ways. In Jesus' name. And if you receive it, can you say amen?”

Amen!!! Friends, let’s make sure we are properly clothed today!

Please feel free to contact me anytime if there is anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, be kind, and please stay well!

Kev