Written By: Caleb Bowen | CS Northeast

One abnormally warm day in December, still in my teenage years, my little brother was home from college for Christmas break. We decided to take a quick day trip to Ocean City, Maryland, for a surf session. The air temperature was about 60°F, so we figured we’d be fine. Neither of us had a winter suit—just my 3/2 and his 3/2 with a spring suit layered over it. No booties, no hoods, no gloves. But it was 60 degrees, right?

Talk about not being dressed for the occasion.

The moment we stepped into the water, we looked at each other and knew we’d made a mistake. The water was in the low 40s. Still, we had driven three hours, and our feet were already wet. On my first duck dive, my eyes rolled back in my head, and I couldn’t see for a few seconds—followed by an incredible brain freeze. We lasted less than an hour, caught enough waves to say we had surfed, and headed back to the heat of the car. We got weird looks from everyone else out there—two crazy kids without the right wetsuits. It took probably thirty minutes to defrost my hands before I could even start the drive home.

There were many lessons from that session. One of them was simple: bring a thicker wetsuit for winter surfing.

All throughout Scripture there are references—and even commands—to be clothed by God. 

Sometimes the language is about physical clothing; more often it is a metaphor for spiritual clothing. In Genesis, God literally clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins after the fall. Zechariah 3:4 says, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” Isaiah 61:10 declares, “…for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness…” Colossians 3:12 tells us to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Other passages echo the same idea: Matthew 6:25–30, Luke 12:22–28, Romans 13:14, Ephesians 4:24, and more.

Every day we get dressed for whatever is in front of us—school, work, church, or exercise. We dress for the occasion. The same is true in our spiritual lives. God gives us these Scriptures so we will realize our need to be clothed with His righteousness, His glory, and His salvation. Every day we need to put on His garments. Every day we need to put on His Word as our protection and provision. We are called to wear our spiritual clothing in everyday life—especially to be properly dressed for the situations we face.

Our goal as Christians is to imitate our God. We need to look like Jesus. We want people to recognize us by our walk with the Lord.

You can’t sing along with a song you’ve never heard. But a song you know and listen to every day—you sing every lyric, move to every beat, and feel the rhythm. In the same way, to dress like our Lord, we need to know His Word and what He sounds like. Don’t be caught off guard or underdressed. Learn what God sounds like and let Him clothe you in His righteousness. Let people recognize you by your conduct—being clothed by Christ. We want our brothers and sisters in Christ to recognize us. We want non-believers to sense that something is different about us. We want to be clothed by Jesus Christ. If you don’t know where to start, start with the fruits of the Spirit, pray through them, and ask God to clothe you with them.