A Garment of Praise

On Friday, I wore heels to work. Usually, I wear more practical shoes, but since Friday was parent teacher conferences and I was only working until noon, I decided I could deal with heels. I told my coworker that I like the click my heels make as I walk down the halls- they make me feel important. Saturday evening I went to a Chinese New Year celebration with my family. Dressing up to go out made me feel elegant and sophisticated. As I walked back into the house after the celebration, I reflected that I felt like a different person than I had that morning, hanging out with friends, wearing a gazillion layers to keep warm in a cabin heated only be the fireplace. What I wear changes my self-perception. It influences the way I act. As I was thinking about that, the phrase “put on a garment of praise” popped into my head.


I couldn’t remember where it came from, so I looked it up. It’s from the same passage in Isaiah 61 that Jesus reads in Nazareth towards the beginning of his ministry. “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me . . . to provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” (v. 1&3) Later on in the same passage it goes on to say, “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness. . .” (v.10)

If something as simple as putting on a pair of heels or wearing jewelry can change the way we feel about ourselves, imagine what a difference being clothed in praise, salvation, and righteousness would make in our lives. The beautiful thing is, we don’t need to strive on our own to be robed in righteousness and praise. All through this passage we see that this is God’s work for God’s glory. He tenderly, lovingly, heals our hurts, releases us from captivity, and adorns us to be whole and beautiful. If we have accepted the work of His son’s death on the cross, we are already crowned in beauty, anointed with the oil of gladness, robed in righteousness, and wearing garments of praise and salvation.

Now that we are dressed as children of God, we must live as children of God. Once you’re dressed for a party, you don’t stop and wash the dishes. If you’re wearing high heels, you probably aren’t about to go play in the mud. Wearing our garment of praise, we shouldn’t be found speaking discouraging, complaining words. Dressed in righteousness, we need to avoid the sin that would soil our spotless robes. Living with a crown of beauty and a garment of salvation, we should walk securely in the knowledge that we are loved by God and our lives are safe in his hand.

So, I encourage you today, remember- you are clothed in praise. The blood of Christ has given you a robe of righteousness. You are crowned in beauty and anointed with gladness. Remember what you are wearing. Let your actions be ruled by the precious clothes Christ’s blood has purchased for you. Let your knowledge of yourself be based on robes that you have no right to wear, but that God has placed on you after rescuing you, giving you all the rights to those royal robes as someone born to wear them. When you do, here is what God says will happen, “[you] will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.” (v.3) [Your] descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed." (v.9)