So, is it wrong to wear an Abercrombie sweater?
For the most part, it does not matter what you wear.* What matters is WHY you wear what you wear? God cares more about what is in your heart than what is on your back.
But here's the thing... God wants us to look at what is in our hearts. It is very easy to lie to ourselves and say that we just wear certain clothes because we like them, or because they are comfortable. But is that 100% of the answer? I admit that even for me, there had been a part of me that secretly wondered if I would seem more cool to some people because of my Abercrombie sweater. Isn't it somewhat the same for all of us?
We each need to ask ourselves WHY we like the clothes we like? Do we like the clothes because the clothes look nice, or because we think they help us look great to other people?
There is nothing wrong with wanting to look nice, but we each need to ask ourselves how much this desire is the result of a self-centered heart.
Clothes don't matter. Our hearts do.
Maybe you are "anti-Abercrombie" or anti-prep. You know, that can be from wrong motives too. Just because you want to change the rules of the popularity game doesn't mean you're not playing it.
So, if you find something in your heart that isn't good, what should you do? Does this mean that you are a rotten person?
It shouldn't take us by surprise that there is pride and sin in our hearts! We all will struggle with this until we die. It is not a matter of wondering if you are a "good" person, or a "bad" person. The line between good and evil does not run between different people... it runs down the middle of every person's heart.
We all have bad
parts that we need to deal with. The first part is trusting in Jesus
Christ as your savior, realizing that He died for you on the cross and
will save you because of HIS goodness, not because of your goodness.
Second, we need to constantly look for the parts of our hearts that are
bad and, with God's help, carve the badness away like you would cut the
rotten part of an apple away. When you SEE sin in your heart, be glad!
This is your chance to grow and become more of the person Christ wants you
to be! If you never see it, you can't do anything about it. Psalm 36:1-2
says that one bad thing about "the wicked" is that they flatter
themselves too much to detect or hate sin.
A big part of the whole process is letting God reprogram you with HIS
values rather than the values of the world. This means listening to God's
Word MORE and the opinions of friends, TV, etc... LESS.
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is- His good, pleasing and perfect will.” –Romans 12:2
So, it's not automatically wrong to wear certain clothes. But if you want to become more of the person God wants you to be, keep looking into your heart and look at your motives. No one else can do this for you, but listen to God's Spirit and His Word to help you become more of the person God wants you to be.
-Nate Archer
*"For the most part it doesn't matter what you wear." I
say "for the most part" because it's not like it completely doesn't
matter. Let's say, with an extreme example, that you wanted to wear clothes with
nazi swastikas all over it? That would be wrong because you would be
sending a message that God thinks is very uncool.
There are other things to consider too, such as: how you are spending/wasting your money, or things that the store promotes... but those are other issues.
I picked "Abercrombie" for this article because they are the brand that most people seem to talk about. However, most of what I wrote could apply to any popular brand. So, if in five years Abercrombie is now considered the brand for dorks, just replace "Abercrombie" with whatever brand people now say is cool.
However, for Abercrombie in particular there may be some other things that someone would want to take into account as they decide what to wear and buy. Personally, I do not want to buy any any more Abercrombie clothes because of all the people in their ads who don't wear clothes! Also, most of their stuff is so expensive that I think it is a bad use of God's money unless you get it on sale. Some teens and college-age students have also made the point that in some circles people who wear Abercrombie are associated with... uh... bad stuff. It is not that it would be automatically wrong to wear Abercrombie, but you should really think about what kind of message you might be sending.
One other thing that you want to consider is the effect that your clothes will have on other people. Let's face it, many people wear certain clothes to turn people on. That isn't showing God's love to other people. Lust is something that a lot of people deal with. The world says, "If you've got it, flaunt it." God says, "Be modest and care about other people more than yourself." Read 1 Timothy 2:9-10 and 1 Corinthians 8:9.
Remember, 1 Peter 3:3-4 says, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornments, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." (Also read Proverbs 31:30.)
