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“Give God your best. You have to decide what that means.”

I’m Baptist, FWIW. I mostly agree with this.

I often am outdoors riding horses or doing some work in the cool of the morning before church. So I shower. I then put on fresh, clean jeans. No holes. Standard jeans - the only kind I own. Wranglers, $17 at Walmart.

I don’t mind someone else wearing a T-shirt, and have myself at times. But I usually think a button down shirt is better. I normally grab a bolo tie - the Official State neck tie of Arizona.

I’ll make sure I’ve shaved and my hair is combed.

We go to church to worship and encounter the God of the Universe. Yes, He sent me in to the world naked, but that doesn’t mean He wants me to come to church that way.

In the small semi-rural Arizona church I go to, the pastor wears a tie. Maybe once a month, I’ll see another man wearing a tie. Bolo ties are commonly worn by the older men, like myself. Younger men almost never wear a tie of any kind.

I wear sneakers about 50% of the time. Most of the men do. I wear cowboy boots the rest of the time. For the morning service, I’m more likely to wear dress boots.

Unless someone is wearing clothes that are likely to distract others, I reckon it isn’t my business. A woman who came wearing a bikini would be told to cover up. A woman wearing a dress with the cleavage at her navel would be asked to cover up. A guy without a shirt, likewise.

Someone wearing an old T-shirt, shorts and flip flops would be welcomed. None of the regulars dress like that, and we honestly haven’t had many who do. We should approach God with reverence and the fear of the Lord. But how that translates into dress depends.

However, I do miss the days when people didn’t wear their pajamas in public, and sweats were for sweating in during a workout, and no one thought their crotch needed to be displayed to the rest of the world!

I can’t imagine anyone turning someone away from a worship service no matter how they are dressed. That being said, I believe that the way you dress is a display of the respect you have for coming into the presence of God.

I love The Lord with all my heart, to me wearing less than a nice suit would be disrespectful. I would not go to a meeting with the president of the United States in blue jeans. I would not go to visit the Queen of England in a Tee Shirt. In those two circumstances you can bet I would be wearing a freshly cleaned suit with a winkle free clean white shirt and nice tie. My shoes will be shined, my skin will be clean and my hair combed.

Some people probably don’t feel as close to The Lord as I do and to them they don’t understand this feeling of respect, they may be coming to find out if there is a God, how can you respect something you aren’t sure you believe exists, so for those people less formal attire may be appropriate. I know Him and I will not disrespect Him. I will wear the best I have when I come to His House.