I had to clean it out just to get inside it. My closet held too many clothes from too many years, so last month I tossed and pitched, and this month I hired a stylist to tell me what I needed.

I’m hoping I’ll save money in the long run, because I won’t keep buying things that look like gunny sacks—like the big, bell-arm sweater that reminds me of mama, like the faux fur coat that swallows me when I wear it, like flowy anything-and-everything. *Rebekah listened to how I live, had me take a personality quiz, rated the clothes I brought after trying on a lot.

My takeaway is that I need to grow up to step into the “me” she was calling out, the one she thinks prefers sophisticated to slouchy, classy to comfy.  When I said I wasn’t sure, she said, “I don’t think sweats reflect who you really are.”  Who I really am? At 65, I’m still deciding.

Getting glory, finding beauty–these things drive the market, don’t they?  How we clothe ourselves is just one way we grab it.  The world is full of the next thing we didn’t know we needed—from diets and workouts, to drinks and supplements, surgeries and implants, bleaching and botox.  They all say we don’t have what it takes, but this one thing will make all the difference.  

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could find glory and beauty at their source? Even better, if we learned that this source is renewable and sustainable, and doesn’t cost a dime? Today’s passages say where to find it, and the news surprises.

Exodus 28

This chapter is all about clothing, and there are a lot of details. The main thing to know is that God says the clothing they make for Aaron and his sons “symbolize[s] glory and beauty.” My ears perk up, since I’m always on the hunt for these, Ex 28:2 MSG.

Aaron is the High Priest who wears the names of his ancestor’s 12 sons on his shoulders. He also wears 12 gemstones that represent these same sons on his chest. God says they’re worn as a memorial before him, as a remembrance, Ex 28:11-12, 21, 29 MSG.

Are your eyes crossing yet? I get it. So here’s the bottom line that I’m wondering: how exactly are these clothes a “memorial” and “remembrance”? And how do they symbolize “glory and beauty”?

Because the 12 sons I’m remembering were mostly scoundrels. Ten of them colluded to get rid of their father’s favorite son, selling him to traders heading to Egypt. Their secret was eventually found out and forgiven, but this wasn’t their only shortcoming, Ge 37:18-36; 45:4-8.

Reuben sleeps with one of his father’s wives; Levi and Simeon avenge their sister’s rape by murdering the men and boys of an entire town; Judah won’t provide for his dead sons’ wife and gets tricked into sleeping with her, so he father’s his own twin grandsons. These are the sons of Israel that God wants to remember? Ge 35:22; all of ch 34 & 38.

Really?

But then I remember…God is the hero of every story—not people. It’s God and Jesus who save. These 12 imperfect sons turn out to be 12 perfect reminders that God’s people have always been scoundrels who need rescuing.

Nearly all the Bible stories I can think of are ones of disappointment and failure—Adam and Eve, Job and Jonah, Noah and son, Lot and his daughters. Even David, the man-after-God’s-own-heart was a murdering adulterer.  And Paul, the greatest apostle of all-time, was an arrogant, murdering, goody-goody.

The woman who loved Jesus most (besides his mama) was a whore who had seven demons. The “disciple Jesus loved” dreamed of his own greatness. I could go on and on. The only good apple in the bunch I can think of was Daniel.

But maybe this is the point:  the remembering God wants to do–the remembering he wants all Israel to do, and us, too–is that when we see Aaron’s shoulders and the precious stones on his chest, we aren’t reminded of the goodness of people, but of our utter need for God and his goodness. Without his forgiveness, we’re lost to him, but with it, we’re sons and daughters transformed by love who reflect him.

Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God with all that we are. But who can do it? No one. God remembers, and we should, too, that it’s only by faith in Jesus that we come to him, not by doing all the things we’re supposed to. Jesus’ death paid for the scoundrel in us, so we could be saints set free to love, Mt 22:36-40; Ro 3:10, Ga 2:16; 5:13-14.

Jesus is the Good Son that Israel’s 12 sons could never be. Jesus is the Only One whose “glory and beauty” go farther than simply symbolizing his Father’s: he embodies it. Jesus is the Precious One whose value is beyond pure gold and gemstones. Jesus is the Holy One who didn’t need an inscribed plate on his turban like Aaron did to proclaim his holiness, but wore a crown of suffering so we could become holy and glorious with him, Mk 1:24; Jn 12:41, 19:2; Phpp 3:8, 4:19; He 13:12.

Jesus is the High Priest who entered the Holy Place once and for all with the guilt of mankind crushing him, so that I can let mine go. Jesus offered the blood of his own death, so that I can enter God’s presence any old time I want to, just to hang out. God is my safe place, my hideaway, my very own Holy-of-Holies inside me because Jesus laid his glory down and went to the wasteland for me. If Jesus isn’t chock-full of glory and beauty for doing this, I just don’t know who in the world is, Ps 62:2-6, 144:2; 1 Pe 2:5; He 10:10-19.

When we put our faith in him, we’re clothed with his goodness. We become his precious, perfect ones. And we’re clothed with something else—Jesus’ glory and beauty become ours when we love like he does, Is 61:10; He 2:9-13.

Our glory and beauty come when we’re clothed with Jesus.

Matthew 25:31-46

Jesus will “blaze in beauty” when he returns and sort the nations the way you sort laundry—the dirty in one pile and the clean in another, only he calls them goats and sheep here, Mt 25:31-33.  

Those in the dirty pile are those who haven’t loved and served people. But those who have, visited the sick and imprisoned, fed the poor, housed the homeless, clothed the naked. Jesus says whatever they did for the least person, they did for him, and he’s paid attention, Mt 25:34-40.

This passage makes me uneasy. I don’t stop every time I see someone at the corner. I’m often running late. I don’t carry cash. I’ve got this blog on my mind. As I write, I have to laugh about that last part.

This is exactly Jesus’ point—what good is it to know him and his words but fail to love the people we bump into? What good is a blog about following Jesus if I’m not doing what he did?

The truth is, my behavior reveals who I really serve, and regardless of what I say, it’s often not Jesus. Because I could slow down. I could take the time to hear someone’s need. I could do something about it. Often what someone most needs is an ear, a smile, a prayer—I know I do—and these are free.

Our glory and beauty come when we serve other people.

Psalm 31:19-24

David says God has “stack[s] of blessing” piled up for those who worship him, “ready and waiting for all who run to you…” God also hides them from their enemies—he “slams the door” on the meanies and mutes them, Ps 31:19-20 MSG.

I’m trying to get my head around the stacks of blessings he’s got. The help I need to love my enemies, the compassion I need to give a hurting friend, the kindness I need to give to myself…all of these and more are piled up, just waiting for me to claim them? 

That’s what David says. 

What is there left to do but praise God, because “his love is the wonder of the world”?  What is there left to do but love him back, because “[he] takes care of all who stay close to him…”? Ps 31:21-23 MSG

This is what worship is and does. We’re moved by those generous stacks of God’s constantly supplying love, so we tell him how great he is and how much we love him for it. When we worship the glorious and beautiful One, we can’t help but get him all over us.

Our glory and beauty come when we worship God’s glory and beauty.

Prayer

God, your Son is dazzling when I see him through Aaron. And this goody pile has me grinning. Give me grace to share it with those I meet. I thought my search today was for glory and beauty, because I read these words in Exodus. But I’ve found a treasure mine in all the rest of this. Thank you.

In Jesus’ name.

Proverbs 8:12-21

Lady Wisdom has lots of good neighbors. When you find her, you find them, too–Sanity, Knowledge, Discretion, Fear-of-God, Good Counsel, Common Sense, Insight and Virtue, Wealth and Glory and Honor. She lives where Righteous Road intersects Justice Avenue, and she hands out life to those who love her and want it.

Passages from Exodus, Matthew, Psalms, and Proverbs are selected for today in The Yearly Bible.

*We are good at celebrating God’s glory and beauty in nature or in others, but “we forget that we are his original masterpiece, that even our wrinkles, our grey hair, our less than perky parts are his works of art.  And maybe by giving our appearance a little more love, we are truly honoring him,” email from Rebekah Latham, my helpful stylist at House of Color. Here’s a link!