Bo Chancey

If you have never personally dressed up like Elvis for an afternoon, don’t judge me.  There is no way that you can begin to identify with the exhilaration that the experience brought me.

Last Tuesday, I spent two hours in a white jumpsuit, a red silk scarf, mondo gold sunglasses, and a black wig with massive sideburns.  I was filming a video for an upcoming sermon that required me to don all of the classic Elvis paraphernalia. 

At first I was a bit apprehensive, but after about fifteen minutes I totally embraced the part.  I kid you not…there is power in the jumpsuit.  Out of nowhere my upper lip started to curl, my legs began to shake, and my hips made movements reminiscent of “Jail House Rock”.  I became Elvis and I liked it…no honestly…I loved it.

When we were done filming I looked at one of my friends and confessed that I did not want to take off the jumpsuit.  Something inside me felt different…a fire had been lit…I felt…sexy. 

Ah, but life must go on.  You just can’t walk around in a white jumpsuit covered in gold stars.  It isn’t normal and I do have an image to protect.  Sadly I removed my cloak of sexiness and replaced it with the typical drabness of my common wardrobe.  As I hung up my costume I fully expected to return to feeling like regular old Bo, but something weird happened.  I still felt sexy.

I felt sexy all day.  It didn’t go away.  In fact when I got home that night, my wife looked at me like I was crazy.  Inside I felt like a “hunk-a-hunk-of-burnin’-love”, but I guess there was little change on the outside.  It was frustrating trying to explain to my wife that I was sexy…she just couldn’t see it the way I could.  To her, I was still her regular, old, goofy husband.  The only difference she could see was that I was dancing badly around the house while singing “Heartbreak Hotel” at the top of my lungs. 

My inward sexiness couldn’t manage to find a way to overcome my outward awkwardness. 

That experience got me thinking about my relationship with Christ.  In Romans 13:14 we are told:  “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”   

What happens when we “put on Christ”?  We stop thinking about how we are going to sin.  Wow, that is pretty powerful.  Think about that for a moment.  What would happen if you dressed up like Jesus for a day and pretended like you were actually Him?  Would you behave differently?  I know I would.  It would also change the way I felt.  I might actually feel “holy” and if I felt “holy”, I would probably start to act “holy”.  Holy cow that would be cool!

I often forget that I am already clothed with Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is all over me and He has made me holy at the core of who I am.  The problem with me though is that I cover Him up some giant “waste of skin” named Bo.  I parade around exalting my will over His, all the while forgetting that I have been transformed.  Acting holy will never make me holy, but I must act holy because I am holy.

Therein lies the great frustration.  In Christ we are made holy on the inside, but for many the holiness rarely overcomes the flesh and is not manifested on the outside.  This is why Christians often have such a difficult time convincing people that Jesus is real…the people we are talking to see no change in us.  The only solution is time and practice.  Put on Christ daily and live out the holiness birthed inside of you. 

One day in an Elvis suit changed the way I felt, but nobody was going to believe that I was even remotely close to actually being like Elvis.  Perhaps a lifetime clothed in Jesus will be enough for His holiness to be seen in my every action.  When that day comes, I will simply say to the King…”Thank you…thank you very much”.