This is an excerpt from Caroline Saunder’s new book, But What Do I Wear?
I used to make my own Easter dress each year. This was fun but also unsettling because every year I had the distinct suspicion my outfit would unravel in the middle of “Up From the Grave He Arose!” In my current season, I very much enjoy wearing clothing made by professionals, and I notice I never worry it will fall apart.
As those God has called His priests (1 Peter 2:9), we get to know we are dressed by the ultimate professional. We do not have to stitch together our own righteousness—God did this on our behalf. (We’ll get into how this actually happens in Chapter 9.) We do not have to DIY glory and beauty—we reflect God’s.
Well-fitting jeans, dressing like your favorite lifestyle influencer, or experiencing the approval of your most fashionable friend is not what will bring you glory. Your dream wedding dress or your full Amazon cart is not what will make you truly beautiful. These worldly treasures will never deliver on their promises, and in fact, preoccupation with them is dangerous and distracting. John 12:43 says this of religious leaders who saw Jesus in the flesh but were unwilling to look to Him: “they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God” (ESV). Rest in this: God alone is the source of glory and beauty, and when we continue to draw near to Him, we will reflect Him.
This is spiritually true, but in some ways it’s physically true. Many women are beautifully clothed, but I wonder if you’ve ever been around a woman who exudes peacefulness rather than restless striving? Is she not incredibly lovely? Doesn’t her beauty intrigue you, prompt you to wonder, what is the source?
Let me tell you something about this woman: She is free because she does not have to cultivate her own shine. She lives untangled from the tentacles of messages like “get yourself together and you’ll be beautiful.” Although many beautiful women around her work diligently for glory and beauty, this woman works in a much more restful, joyful way. She draws near to the Lord, she reflects God’s glory and beauty, and from this overflow, she does her work. She is a glorious, lovely, and needed worker in this priesthood of believers.
Let me tell you something else about this woman: I believe she can be you.
Consider Jesus’s words to Martha, who resented the way her sister Mary sat at Jesus’s feet rather than help with her work. “The Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her’” (Luke 10:41-42).
Are there many things to be worried and upset about? Yes. It’s true about our work. It’s true about our wears. But something else is truer: “One thing is necessary.” The priests have important work to do in the world, but first and foremost they are called to be near the Lord. Worship is always the first order of business and the only necessary thing. While striving for your own glory and beauty will exhaust and distract you, worshipping the LORD will fuel the work you do for Him. You do not have to stand in a mirror and create your own glory and beauty—you get to be a mirror and reflect His.
A Blessing
Aaron had a holy occupation
But chose idolatrous celebration
We use all our muscle, try to impress
Put too much stake in how we get dressed
Sometimes we are flippant, not set apart
Not checking our motives, checking our hearts
But let’s not forget the God Who Covers
Our calling to reflect Him to others
The beautiful linen, the gorgeous thread
Once filthy, we’re made beautiful instead
The glory’s not something we shaped ourselves
The beauty’s not something found on a shelf
It’s lended, reflected, comes from a source:
Our beautiful, glorious, one true Lord
About But What Do I Wear?
In But What Do I Wear?, beloved (and hilarious!) Bible teacher Caroline Saunders zooms out from the rigid rules and common tropes around clothing and instead traces the larger themes of clothing and covering throughout Scripture, mixing in some humorous and heartfelt stories along the way. As she walks from Genesis to Revelation—from fig leaves to righteous robes—she helps women discover this bigger story and approach clothing with biblical clarity, practical confidence, and a deeper understanding of what it means to be “clothed in Christ.”
About Caroline Saunders
Caroline Saunders is a writer, pastor’s wife, and mother of three who believes in taking Jesus seriously and being un-serious about nearly everything else. She’s the author of Come Home: Tracing God’s Promise of Home Through Scripture and a contributor to The Names of God: A Study on Who God Is and Who Calls Us to Be.
