Wearing holey underwear

Wearing holey underwear

"Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold the Judge is standing at the door." James 4:17; 5:1,2,9

"He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Rev. 3:5,6

Kate came to live with me a couple of months ago. Since her parents are deceased and my husband died two years ago, we're probably both good for each other. Anyway, it seems like a God-thing to us -- most of the time.

Which brings me to my Kate-quote. As we were going through clothing she'd outgrown, I was ready to pitch ragged underwear when she said, "June, only God sees our underwear." (Since she's 14, I hope I can keep her believing that until she says her "I do.")

That led me to remember my mother's concern that my brother or I might be in an accident and rushed to a hospital while we wearing holey underwear. Perish the thought! Better to perish than have paramedics cut off outerwear to discover baggy briefs, a tattered teddy, or scuzzy skivvies on one of Mom's children. According to Mom, holey undies would merit the wrong kind of attention -- definitely not medical.

So according to Kate and Mom, God and medical personnel care about undergarments. What goes on behind closed doors concerns God. The colorful language we use reaches his ears. He watches what we watch on TV. And he notices whether we're wearing clothes or not when we're with our neighbor's spouse. He notices whether our underwear is holey or holy.

He sees beyond the lace and frills that we display for others. We may put on virtuous vestments and pious apparel, but we're not fooling him if our hearts aren't full of love and compassion for our neighbors.

Luke 10 records that a young lawyer asked Jesus, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus responded, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

The young lawyer asked, "Who is my neighbor?" and Jesus answered by talking about the good Samaritan.

You know the story. A man who'd been beaten and robbed was passed by two religious leaders but befriended by a Samaritan. The Samaritan doctored up the half-dead Jew, took him to the nearest Holiday Inn, nursed him, and left money at the front desk saying, "If it costs more, I'll pay all the costs when I return."

Then Jesus said, "Go and do likewise." Of course, the kicker in the story is that Jews looked down their noses on Samaritans and treated them like dirt. Yet the Samaritan, acting out of compassion, sacrificed his time and money to help a man who might have spit on him the day before.

What we're wearing shows when our neighbor's a different skin color, culture, denomination or religion, social class, educational level or deodorant-use level. God says, "Love your neighbor." He wants our hearts right beneath our holy hoopla. You're right, Kate. God sees our underwear, and he wants it holy instead of holey.

June Seabaugh is a member of Christ Church of the Heartland in Cape Girardeau.