Change Your Clothes

One thing that I've been doing recently is changing my clothes after work. I don't really dress up for work - it's business casual so I wear khakis, some cords, or other pants in that family of clothing, and usually a button down shirt or a polo. These clothes aren't uncomfortable really... I don't spend my entire day thinking of how much they are irritating me having them on. (Shoes, though, are another matter.)

Usually when I get home, I feel pretty tired from the 8.5 hours spent at work, bookended by almost an hour and a half commuting each way. DC area traffic is grand.

I'm usually pretty exhausted when I arrive back at my apartment, and whenever I have somewhere to be in the evening, I usually make home a pitstop before I take the tiredness with me to the rest of my day.

But all of this has changed.

Yes, I still work my "9-5" and I still have a job that costs me 11.5 hours per day, but now when I get home during my pitstop before the rest of my day, I change my clothes.

This has changed everything.

I'm not a psychologist nor do I claim to be. Well, maybe sometimes I do. But regardless, I think that changing your clothes has a major impact on your brain. Because now, when I go out with my fiancée, make a trip out to the store, or go to a Bible study, I feel suddenly revived, and it feels like I am starting the evening with a fresh bank of energy. The day feels like a new day. I feel like I can forget that I had even gone to work that day, and that my day has been one of leisure.

No, I don't think I am alone in this. And yes, I have a spiritual application from this seemingly random concept.

In Colossians 3, Paul starts asking them to put to death all sorts of things that compose their earthly nature such as sexual immorality, greed, anger, slander, and filthy language. But he goes on to use the image of changing one's clothes. He writes, as recorded in verse 12, "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."

This new life that we have in Christ is one that is like putting on some new clothes for the fun part of your day - the good life. Because we want to live a holy life, we need to remove the bad stuff (work clothes) and put on (because they won't get put on by themselves) the good stuff.