It’s not the clothes that are important, but the person dressed within

WELL goodness knows I could never have been described as a style icon and in recent weeks my increasingly desperate need for a haircut has underlined this.

My approach for clothes shopping has always been quite simple. I visit one city centre store. If they haven’t got what I am looking for I return home. And, of course, at the moment I can’t even go into the store – I must be saving a fortune.

Some take the whole business of fashion far more seriously. They always want to know what is in/out / trending. Which styles are so last year or what is the new black? What is wrong with the old black, I ask?

You might be surprised to learn that that Bible has things to say about the way we dress. However, its concern is not so much with high street fashion as with the quality of our character.

Paul, writing to the church at Colossae, urges them to be properly dressed.

Clothe yourselves, he writes, with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. He wanted people to emulate not the Milan catwalks but the values of the Kingdom of God.

If suffering a particular loss will I be more concerned about the colour of a friend’s trousers or the quality of their care and concern?

If my car breaks down will I refuse help from someone because their shirt clashes with their tie?

If struggling to meet a work deadline do I expect my boss to show patience and understanding or to parade about in his Armani suit?

Jesus did not say of his true followers, “By their suits shall you know them”.

No, he used the word “fruits”. To paraphrase Martin Luther King: people, he argued, should be judged by the content of their character not the colour of their wardrobe.

Paul ends his clothing advice by saying that love and forgiveness are the finishing touches.

If we were to offer love and forgiveness to everyone we meet this week what a difference it would make.

We might even find ourselves creating a new fashion.