Sometimes when someone is being impatient you may hear someone say “keep your shirt on.” Telling someone to “keep their shirt on” today is basically telling them to calm down. It originated in the mid-19th century from the practice of men removing their shirts before a fistfight to avoid damaging their valuable clothing. Thus, telling someone to keep their shirt on was a way to urge them to de-escalate and not fight.
This practice may have stopped, but the phrase still lingers on. When we encounter something or someone that rubs us the wrong way how do we react? Now, we may not physically take our shirts off, but what do we remove?
You see we are told in different places through the Word to wear certain things.
Clothe yourselves with humility (1 Peter 5:5 NIV), a gentle and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:4 NHEB), the garments of salvation, the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10 KJV).
Do we take these off in order to handle the situations that we find ourselves in? Can we say that we are being humble when we fly off the handle at someone or something? Can we say that we are gentle and quiet when we are yelling at the top of our lungs with the veins popping out of our neck? Can we say that we are effectively displaying salvation and a person is righteous when we don’t offer forgiveness?
No, we may not remove our shirts, but we may be removing something that is far more valuable than a shirt. Instead of removing these good things, let us rather do as the Word says and cast off and throw away all these rotten garments of anger, hatred, cursing, and dirty language (Colossians 3:8 TLB).
Let us clothe ourselves with the right things of God. How can we do this? Do as Jesus said: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matthew 5:44 KJV).
Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV 22 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; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Proverbs 17:14 NIV Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out
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