I once attended an afternoon spring wedding at a Yacht club in the Marina wearing a new tea length soft green dress with subtle lavender flowers in the pattern. As I stood at the door waiting to be greeted by the ushers, I noticed the woman in front of me with a black knee length dress with thin spaghetti straps. I casually turned around and noticed another woman walking up behind me wearing a long black sleeveless dress with a beautiful silver shawl wrapped around her shoulders. I quickly fumbled through my purse to see if I had missed something on the invitation about a specific dress code. I hadn’t, but I still felt completely out of place in that moment. On another occasion I arrived at a minister’s conference in my black blazer and dress pants with a pink blouse and my favorite pearls, only to discover all the other wives seemed to be wearing their best sweat outfits or casual wear. Again, I wondered did I miss something. I have had many occasions in which I did not receive the dress code memo. After many years of fumbling through this and too often wishing I had access to a dressing room in which I could slip behind a curtain and change clothes, I have learned to wear what seems to be the most appropriate and what seems practical for the occasion and if I didn’t get the memo, oh well.

In many social settings the message is very clear. To be accepted, you must be clothed according to the “standard”...whatever that is. God also has a standard. But thankfully His is one in which when you come out of the dressing room it’s perfect every time. He makes it possible for you to be acceptable to Him at all times and on every occasion. According to Job 29:14, He gives us “righteousness as [your] clothing”. The word righteous means acquitted, vindicated or free from sin and guilt. Your faith in Christ enables God to regard you as righteous. He doesn’t see your sin any longer, but he sees you as clothed with the righteousness of Christ. If you have struggled with feeling unworthy to be called “the righteousness of God”, 2 Corinthians 5:21 reminds us, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
This “clothing” we are given is like a uniform. Whenever a police officer, fireman, or anyone else in a uniform walks into the room we take notice. The uniform regardless of its purpose has undeniable authority. At the moment of conversion you were issued a righteous uniform. The Lord not only covered your past but also gave you authority over your future. Ephesians 6:14 reminds us, … and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. He has done all the work; we just have to get dressed according to His Standard. As a child of God, you have the righteousness of God. You have the power that backs the badge.