Fashionably Wrong

Last night I went out with a group of girlfriends and watched 'Devil Wears Prada'. I liked it. It was a fun movie and I really enjoy Anne Hathaway. Overall it was a good time. Still, leaving the theatre I found myself even more conscious than usual of my perceived lack of fashion. I envied the style and class displayed in the movie and wished I could afford to be so attired.

Then I remembered that the whole moral of the movie, really, was that none of that was important in the big picture, especially at the cost of relationships. So why do we put so much stock into fashion and how we or anyone else is dressed? I can have a bad day simply because I don't feel stylish or fashionable in what I'm wearing. Or I can feel really good about how I look...until I'm surrounded by others who look "better". Then there's the nearly unconcious practice of judging a stranger based soley on their dress and lack of fashion. How many people have I judged incompetent or stupid just because they dressed out of style, only to discover how mistaken I was?

This attitude goes against everything we find in Scripture about how God views us. The Bible says God doesn't judge as we do, because He looks at the condition of our hearts, not the designer label on our jeans. Then there's the place where God addresses women specifically, telling us that our beauty should not be reliant upon what we put on, but the gentleness of who we are in our character and our hearts. I feel convicted regarding my attitude about others and the ingratitude about what I have myself. I have not been functioning with God's heart. To put such emphasis on something so temporary...something that may not last through the year. Fashion is constantly changing. How to break free from this obsession. Lord, grant us your grace! Let us see as You see and not with the eyes of this flesh!