Are You a Dressed-up Christian?

Several years ago our family traveled from Georgia to Colorado for a skiing vacation. We had a black Labrador named Tessa at the time. As anyone with pets knows, vacations present the conundrum of what to do with them while you’re away.

Fortunately, friends offered to take Tessa for the week. They had lost their dog several months earlier and missed having one. So with great anticipation on both sides, we dropped her off at their home.

Our friends’ daughter was quite put out with us for coming to pick up Tessa when we returned. Our dog had been her favorite playmate that week. We heard all about how she and Tessa would lie down together to watch TV, how she walked her, how she played with her, and yes, how she played dress-up with her. Tessa was even transformed one evening into Hannah Montana—complete with a blonde wig and pink cap.

But you know what? Nothing my friend’s daughter dressed our pet in changed the fact that Tessa was a dog. Tessa would have had to undergo quite the transformation to become Hannah Montana. What she wore on the outside did not make it so.

How often do we “Christians” fall prey to thinking, “If I look the part, then it must be so”?

We wear cross necklaces and purity rings. We attend Christian concerts and buy the T-shirt so when we wear it others will know we are a Christian. We put Ichthus decals on our cars. We buy a nativity set for Christmas and an Easter flag more about the cross than bunnies and eggs to hang outside our home. We even place Christian artwork in our homes.

While none of that is a bad thing, if all we do is “dress up” on the outside without experiencing transformation on the inside, we are no better than Tessa dressed up like Hannah Montana. We might look like a Christian, but in fact, we’re still a dog.

What we wear on the outside isn’t what matters.

What matters is what’s on the inside.

Jesus has some strong words for those who proclaim to be people of faith but are just dressing up:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness” (Matt. 23:27–28 NIV).

These are harsh words to people of the faith who should have known better. And sometimes I think I hear Jesus saying “Woe to you”…to me as well.

A few short days after Jesus utters those words of judgment, he dines with his disciples for the last time. As they prepare to leave the upper room, Jesus speaks words of life, promising them—and us—that transformation is possible. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:1–2 NIV).

Jesus is saying the church has two categories of people: unproductive branches and fruitful branches. I think he might have had those Pharisees in mind when he said the first part but his disciples in mind when he said the second part. This is just as relevant for us today. We cannot become fruit-bearing branches for the kingdom of God if we are not bearing fruit in our own lives.

If we don’t want to be one of those dressed-up-on-the-outside-but-still-a-dog kind of Christians that get cut off, we need to apply this passage to our hearts, our thoughts, our attitudes, and our habits. We must let God do the dirty work of cutting away the dead wood so we can become branches fruitful in the world.

When we let God go about the business of transforming us, he will clothe us with compassion, kindness, humility, and gentleness. He will bring forth joy, peace, patience, and self-control.

Jesus went on to tell his disciples that the most important fruit they would bear is love. Love changes the world. When we transform from the inside out, we will change the world—not because of anything we wear or hang on our walls, but because we will look like Christ. And Christ looks like love.

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Denise Roberts is a wife, mom, and joyful soon to be mother-in-law. She loves sharing a good cup of coffee on her back deck with friends and morning snuggles from her 100-lb. chocolate lab, Hudson. She writes with a passion to share how to live holy, where faith and life intersect. Connect with her at www.deniseroberts.org.

Photograph © Braydon Anderson, used with permission