Text: Mar­ja-Tert­tu Ko­mu­lai­nen

Trans­la­ti­on: Sirk­ka-Lii­sa Lei­no­nen

Ye­ars ago I read an ar­tic­le in which a yo­ung per­son as­ked, ”Do be­lie­vers have to wear a cer­tain kind of de­sig­ner clot­hes?”

This per­son had no­ti­ced at school that be­lie­ving stu­dents see­med to fa­vor clot­hing by a known Fin­nish ma­nu­fac­tu­rer.

This qu­es­ti­on does not seem very re­le­vant to an ol­der per­son, but the is­sue is im­por­tant to those who are yo­un­ger. Fas­hi­on-cons­ci­ous yo­ung pe­op­le may strong­ly fa­vor cer­tain de­sig­ners, while fin­ding ot­hers most­ly unin­te­res­ting.

But what made that yo­ung per­son ask about a mat­ter that she thought might come up if she were to be­co­me a be­lie­ver? Ma­y­be she had he­ard the call of the Good Shep­herd in con­fir­ma­ti­on clas­ses and had been touc­hed by it. And even if her qu­es­ti­on was not me­ant to be very pro­found, it may be re­la­ted to a lar­ger phe­no­me­non.

Con­fir­ma­ti­on clas­ses had brought up the most im­por­tant mat­ter of life, na­me­ly how to get to know our Sa­vi­or Je­sus Christ and how to be­co­me a child of God. Ma­y­be that had made her ob­ser­ve the life of be­lie­vers more clo­se­ly: How do they be­ha­ve and speak? What things do they find fun­ny and what not?

Her qu­es­ti­on about dres­sing was ans­we­red: of cour­se not.

I think that be­lie­vers can dress in a way that looks nice. They can choo­se com­for­tab­le clot­hing that is disc­reet and ap­p­rop­ri­a­te to the we­at­her. Low-cut sund­res­ses are not me­ant for school or work. The way we dress cont­ri­bu­tes to the way that pe­op­le per­cei­ve us as be­lie­vers.

A yo­ung per­son – or even an ol­der one – who dres­ses too fri­vo­lous­ly may give rise to tact­less com­ments even wit­hout me­a­ning to. That re­a­son in it­self should mo­ti­va­te a way of dres­sing that is in har­mo­ny with Chris­ti­an va­lu­es.

At­ten­ti­on to ex­ter­nal things like clot­hing may al­so make pe­op­le ob­ser­ve ot­her as­pects of yo­ung be­lie­vers. One of the most im­por­tant fe­a­tu­res is the light of God’s pe­a­ce shi­ning from them. That is es­pe­ci­al­ly im­por­tant in these rest­less ti­mes.