Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
"These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination to Him."
This is the first of the seven things King David told his son Solomon that God especially despises.
It is unwise to take up the latest fashion as soon as it appears. Those who do so are motivated by pride and a spirit of emulation, not by goodness and love for others. God hates "a proud look" because the person with that look is thinking only of himself, is comparing himself with others like himself instead of looking to Christ, and is forgetting the fear of God.
Instead of pursuing a proud look with the latest styles in clothes, wise people clothe themselves "with humility, for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the lowly" (1Pet. 5:5). Jesus revealed the ultimate reward for humility when he said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Mt. 5:5). In other words, nobody on the new earth will have a "proud look".
Who is really wise? Are they wise who concentrate on looking good now but who eventually will be cast into the Lake of Fire to be tormented day and night forever? Obviously, wise people are they who live humbly now and who will later inherit the New Earth and live forever peacefully. It is wise to be humble before God because in the long run, the humble heart will win everything. It is for this reason that Solomon said, "With the lowly is wisdom" (Prov. 11:2).
I was taught by my wise and godly father to be neither the first to take up a new style nor the last to lay down an old one. The way of wisdom in God's kingdom is for the saints just to "fit in" with whatever is the current style among sinners who have a sense of decency. It is not good for children of God to try to make a statement with fashion.
On a recent trip to St. Louis, I saw some of a Christian sect who dress themselves and their children (how sad!) in styles that belong to the 1800's. It made both the adults and their children look odd. There is no godly reason for their dressing this way. There is nothing godly about any old custom in clothing. There is nothing holy about styles that were in vogue two hundred years ago. These misguided people have fallen into one of the traps of pride. Their manner of dress, associated as it is with old-fashioned manners, has an appearance of humility, but an appearance is all it is. In reality, it, too, is "a proud look". They purposefully attract attention to themselves by their strange dress, and the flesh revels in drawing attention. But that is not the way of wisdom. Jesus would not dress that way if he were among us today; he would not draw attention to himself by some distinctive style in clothing.
Fear God, and avoid a "proud look". Those with a proud look may presently own the admiration of unwise men, but in a little while, their proud looks will give way to death, and who will admire them then?
Long ago, when the destruction of Jerusalem was drawing near, the prophet Zephaniah cried out, "Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth who have wrought his judgment. Seek righteousness! Seek meekness! It may be that you shall be hidden in the day of the LORD's anger" (Zeph. 2:3). The meekness we seek is the meekness to "become of no reputation" so that the wisdom and goodness and power of God is what is notable about us, not the way we dress.