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Putting on the new

Wayne Warner

I just threw away a perfectly good shirt and pair of pants! You know why? They were worn out.

The shirt’s collar and cuffs were frayed beyond repair. Otherwise, it was a perfectly good shirt I could have worked in a few more times. My wife said it was too far gone, but it had been a good flannel shirt. Besides, it was my favorite shade of red – plenty good enough for wearing around the house and yard.

The pants had some pulled threads and a few minor paint smudges, and the right front pocket had a hole in it. Yet, they still had a good press and fit well. Like the shirt, I could do a lot of painting and gardening in them.

Have you detected anything yet? I have a problem throwing away what I don’t need. My wife, being an alert preacher’s wife, has steadfastly refused to allow me to appear in public in less than my best apparel.

I had to laugh at myself when I threw out those clothes. The truth is, I have several more shirts my wife threatens to throw out. And, since I’m not preaching every Sunday now that I’ve retired, I’ll be hard pressed to ever wear them out. The problem is, I keep pushing my newer shirts to the back of the closet and wearing the older ones “just one more time.”

It really pained me to throw away those two garments, although I didn’t need them. Isn’t that a problem many of us have? It’s not always clothes. Sometimes it’s more serious things – unnecessary, even unusable, items we’ve hung on to over the years rather than face throwing them out, things like...

...that angry feeling that surfaces when I remember some board meetings I attended years ago.

...that reactive honk of the horn when a crazy driver cuts into my lane in front of me.

...those times Sister Know-it-all scrambled what I said, leaving me to patch up the misunderstanding.

It is one thing to hang on to old clothes, old tools and the other items we store in our attics, basements and garages. It is quite another matter to become so attached to attitudes, behaviours and emotions we don’t really need or want that we find it easier to put off sending them to God’s second hand store or the equivalent of our church’s annual garage sale.

Paul insisted “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection... Forgetting what is behind... I press on toward the goal” (Philippians 3:10-14). Paul got rid of what he had worn out. His objective was to wear the best he could find in his spiritual closet.

Wayne Warner lives in Battle Creek, MI.

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Last modified August 31, 2000.

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