I was getting dressed this morning for work, rummaging through my sock drawer for a pair of black socks.  Why is it that black socks get holes in the toes faster than any other sock in the drawer?  Are they designed this way?  It is a conspiracy between black sock makers to keep the consumer coming back for more socks every couple of months?

I’ve done everything I can.  When the hole in the toe is on the right side, I’ll put it on the other foot so that my big toe won’t poke through.  But now all my socks have holes on both sides of the toes – what’s a guy to do.  Like most guys, I’ll keep using t-shirts, underwear, socks, jeans, you name it until they’re threadbare and barely even there.  But I think I’m about finished with these socks.

I took a class in high school called “single living”, in which we were taught fundamental things like balancing a checkbook, planning a meal, and even darning socks (you can’t imagine how much fun this was – but you know I took the class to be around the girls).  But do you think I’m going to even attempt to fix the holes in my socks.  Nope – I’m going to K-Mart this weekend and buying new socks.  Until then, I’ll keep my shoes on so no one can see my shabby looking socks with my big toe stiking out.

It dawns on me – that my holey socks are indicative of my (and probably your) unholy spiritual condition.  On the outside we’ve got on our Sunday best, we look put together and tidy.  But really it’s a facade, a thin veneer covering the shambles within.  We’d be appaled if anyone saw the spiritual equivalent of our big toes stiking out.  You know what I mean; there’s the Bible that hasn’t been opened in months, the time of prayer and devotion that’s been neglected for seasons, that secret sin that eats at you from within – making your soul feel threadbare and exposed.

What’s a soul to do?  The fear of being exposed as a sham and a fraud haunt us to keep up the facade, meanwhile we’re crumbling within.  Be of good hope!  Remember the promise of Jesus:  “But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!”  Luke 12:28 (ESV).  I Peter 5 tells us to cast our anxieties on God, for he cares for us – the anxieties of being exposed, the fear of not being quite good enough, God takes these from us and clothes us in his righteousness.  Zech. 3:4 (ESV) says, “and the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.”  (If you haven’t read this passage, stop and read it now.  I know it’s a vision of Joshua the high priest, and that it is a prophecy of the coming Messiah Jesus (Joshua=Jesus), but I think it also speaks to what God does for each of us).

This is the problem with being a pastor – I see holey socks and I write a sermon.  May your holeyness be covered by the holiness of Christ as we are clothed in him.  And if you see me at K-Mart this weekend, you’ll know why.

SDG