Utica Baptist Church, Utica, Mississippi

In 1960, fashion designer Richard Blackwell published his first "Worst Dressed Women" list. He passed away in 2008, and since then there have been many imitators. And every year a major part of the post-Oscar wrap-up includes what each of the stars wore--who looked the best, and which ones were the worst.

The critics are ruthless. After the 2011 Academy Awards, one critic said that it looked as though Nicole Kidman was wearing an "excessively-embroidered tablecloth." Marisa Tomei's gown, they said, was "reminiscent of a young girl's prom dress," and "as if one half is trying to escape from the other."

　 In God's eyes, the way we are "dressed" carries a different meaning. The Apostle Paul used the analogy of taking off old clothing, and putting on new: "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:22-24, NIV)

Isaiah 61:10 reads, "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, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."

So how are you dressed today? We’re not talking about whether you are wearing a coat and tie, or a dress instead of slacks. We're talking about the way you appear before Christ. Have you been clothed with "the garments of salvation"?
--Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com

Occasionally, scientists add one additional second to their atomic clocks, making that particular month one-sixtieth of a second longer. Atomic clocks run independently of the rotation of the Earth, and occasionally they have to be adjusted. Our planet's rotation at times speeds up and sometimes slows down--not enough that we can tell it--but scientists have yet to understand why.

Why is it important that one tiny second be added to the world's clocks? In our day, exact time is needed for modern navigation, affecting global navigation satellite systems, among other things.

Ships and aircraft use satellite signals and radio waves to help determine their location. An error as tiny as a millionth of second can produce a position error of a quarter mile. That may not matter much when a ship is in the middle of the ocean, but it's not a very good thing to happen whenever a pilot is attempting to land a jumbo jet on a runway in a metropolitan area.

So, to keep everything running the way they should, an adjustment has to be made to the atomic clocks.

How many adjustments have you made to your life in Christ lately? At times our spiritual growth races at an accelerated speed, while at other times it merely crawls or halts altogether. It serves us well to stop periodically to examine ourselves before God and make any adjustments which appear to be necessary.

A daily quiet time before God can alert us to subtle changes in our love for and commitment to Christ. Considering our very human tendency to fall short, the necessity of such a time of examination increases with the passing of time.

So it may be a very small adjustment which needs to be made, but don't fall into the trap of thinking that because it isn't huge, that it can be delayed. Fail to make the adjustment now, and somewhere out there in the future there may be a mistake--or a sin--which could have been avoided.

It may be a habit or a sin which needs to be forsaken. It may be a godly habit you need to pick up, such as regular worship, prayer and Bible study. It may even be some slight adjustment in your schedule so those things will be possible.

Is it time to adjust your spiritual "atomic clock"?

--Rocky Henriques