DCLM Daily Manna 2025: DCLM Daily Manna 3 May 2025: Strange Dressing
Text: Zephaniah 1:1-9 (KJV)
The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
2 “I will utterly consume everything
From the face of the land,”
Says the Lord;
3 “I will consume man and beast;
I will consume the birds of the heavens,
The fish of the sea,
And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked.
I will cut off man from the face of the land,”
Says the Lord.
4 “I will stretch out My hand against Judah,
And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place,
The names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests—
5 Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops;
Those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord,
But who also swear by Milcom;
6 Those who have turned back from following the Lord,
And have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.”
7 Be silent in the presence of the Lord God;
For the day of the Lord is at hand,
For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
He has invited His guests.
8 “And it shall be,
In the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,
That I will punish the princes and the king’s children,
And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.
9 In the same day I will punish
All those who leap over the threshold,
Who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
KEY VERSE: (Zephaniah 1:8) And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD’S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.
When government officials in the State of Georgia decided to streamline the licensing process by allowing drivers to upload their own photos, they did not anticipate the unintended consequences. But recently, they decided to be a bit more explicit in their instructions. A recent Facebook post from the Georgia Department of Driver Services read, “Attention, lovely people of the digital era. Please take pictures with your clothes on when submitting them for your Digital Driver’s License and IDs.”
In Zephaniah’s prophecy made up of just three chapters, indecent dressing was mentioned as a sin to be punished by God. There is a clear link between the digression into idolatry, the culture of immoral practices, and indecent dressing. Of particular mention was the worship of the hosts of heaven, and the abominations of the surrounding nations, prominent among which was Baal, the Canaanite god of rain and fertility. God also promised to punish those who advanced the culture of indecency and sanction the princes and king’s children who modeled it.
Right from the book of Genesis, after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and became aware of their nakedness, they made leaves to cover themselves, but God provided animal skin for proper coverage and protection against the cold weather. Since then, clothing has been an established feature of man’s existence. After the Fall, man acquired a depraved nature which is expressed in many ways including lust of the flesh and the eyes. Beyond covering, clothing has become part of our identity. It is an expression of our principles, character, and virtues.
Believers in Christ in whose lives “old things are passed away” may not be able to stop the indecent dressing in the world, but they are not expected to adopt them. Our dress sense should be guided by decency and modesty (1 Timothy 2:9,10). Some church authorities have surrendered to the stiff resistance they faced in their attempt to correct erring members. Some influential leaders and members of churches are, disappointingly, at the vanguard of the promotion of the strange apparel frowned upon by God. Indecent, extravagant, suggestive displays in appearance, behaviour, and communication do not glorify God and are unbecoming of a true Christian.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Indecent dressing may seem normal to the world, but they are strange to God’s people.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judges 1-4
Daily Manna 3 May 2025
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