There’s nothing quite like the feeling of a new outfit.
My five-year-old loves to try on her new clothes in our bathroom in front of the huge mirror. She’ll spend ages in there making up silly songs and admiring herself. While I don’t necessarily spend ages admiring myself in the mirror, I can definitely appreciate the confidence boost that comes with wearing a new dress that fits perfectly.
With Easter and spring coming up, I’m sure a lot of us are looking to fill our closets with florals and ruffles and lovely dresses. Yet, as the seasons turn and we overhaul our closet, it’s a perfect time to make a heart check and examine what we are adorning ourselves with.
Proverbs 31:25 describes how a virtuous woman adorns herself: “Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.”
What exactly does that mean, though? How do you wear strength and honor? When I want to dive deeper into a verse, one of my favorite ways is to look it up in Strong’s Concordance. It gives you the root meanings of the words and sometimes helps illuminate the text. This particular verse, when researched in the concordance, is simply beautiful.
Strength (boldness, power, majesty) and honor (beauty, excellency, glory, magnificence) are her clothing (a garment, literally or figuratively wrapped around her); and she shall rejoice (laugh, make merry, play) in time to come (always, continually, forevermore).
Dear friend, if you are feeling inadequate, hopeless, insecure, or down on the dumps, it might just be time to change your clothes. Get rid of those old garments from yesterday. Shed the insecurity. Rip off the expectations of culture. Unbutton the shame, discard the depression, and throw out anything making you feel less-than. Remove those filters designed to “perfect” your skin and body. That outfit wasn’t made for you. Those old garments don’t fit.
Change your clothes.
You have been made a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and with it comes a whole new wardrobe. Put on His strength. Wrap yourself in His boldness. Step into His power, clothe yourself with His beauty, and adorn yourself with His majesty.
Slip into your new garment. Button it up and smooth it out over your skin. See how freeing it is? See how perfectly it fits? These clothes He has designed for you do not weigh you down, pinch you in, or distort your beauty. They do not alter the glorious creation He formed with His own hands. They come with purpose and glory weaved into every thread.
A new spring dress can boost your confidence, but it doesn’t even come close to the holy boldness and righteous confidence a new mindset can bring.
Dear friend, this is who you were designed to be. You were created for nothing less than glory. Nothing less than to be a radiant mirror of His excellency. Strength and honour are your clothing; and you shall rejoice in time to come!
