
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:2-6)
likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works (I Timothy 2:9).
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7).
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God (5-6).
David,
I grew up in the 60s, when dress for church started going from ladies wearing dresses with hats and men in their best suits to everyone in blue jeans almost overnight. Of course we were following culture in a land full of communication and growing diversity, reaction to an unwanted war, etc. I realize the culture there is vastly different from ours, but I wonder if you see any difference or changes when the youth/young adults in your area become educated, as opposed to working from the “top down” teaching the older adults (usually the community leaders)? As our culture places a great emphasis on education we find our college students, who have the most time, energy and are in the thick of learning about the world and reacting to what they’re discovering, set a lot of the change in motion simply because their “reaction” has a greater voice. Without that, do you find the changing of the cultural norm to be nearly impossible to imagine? It surely “takes a little time to get the Titanic turned back around” as the old Amy Grant song says. And only God can do it. But I pray that these observations of yours, which I believe are certainly full of God’s truth and wisdom from His word, may make a difference in these people’s lives as they come to trust you, and ultimately, the God you serve and represent.
Thanks for the feedback Kristin. There are a mixture of different cultures here. Among the Kwakum I have seen a very strong resistance to change. For instance, the pastor of our church started growing watermelons and the people in our village all told him he was crazy. They had never grown watermelons before and cannot imagine doing so. I have a lot of great hope for change here, but it will be slow and only God can do it. At the end of the day, the clothes they wear to church is pretty low down on the list. Thanks again!