Lying awake in bed with eyes still shut, I saw an image before me held like a photo by some invisible hand. It was of a US mail dropbox. There was something very peculiar and disturbing about it. Over the drop slot was a pair of white underwear. The underwear’s waistband stretched over the opening. There was a hand shown inserting a letter into the opening of one of the legs and in through the waistband.
Hours later, another image appeared with the same white underwear draped over a white laundry basket of dirty white clothing. One leg draped to the inside, the other to the outside.
Jesus spoke in parables, puzzles, and riddles, using familiar everyday objects to illustrate spiritual truths. (Matthew 13:34) Few things are more common and every day than underwear. And receiving a vision of such is, well, puzzling. Receiving two is downright baffling.
The Bible tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus. When something like this comes out of the blue, I consider it an invitation to gaze deeper to see if there is more than meets the eye; to see if there is some spiritual lesson in it for me to glean.
I began meditating on, yes, you guessed it—underwear.
Everyone wears underwear. We all put our underwear on the same way, one leg at a time. It’s a universal item available in many shapes, sizes, and colors. Whether it be a superhero, jockey, princess, or lace, we each have a favorite style. The underwear we choose somehow defines our personality.
Even though there are many underwear options, there is sameness to all pairs. They have a band at the top and openings for the left leg and the right. Without the elastic at the top of our undies—they fall.
We, like underwear come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. There is a uniqueness about each of us, but a sameness too. Whether we stand on the right side of an issue or the left, we are all made in the same image of God. He is the elastic at the top of our underwear that keeps us from falling.
United we stand, divided we fall.
Underwear becomes soiled and stained and must be washed to be made clean. This is true for us too. We become soiled and stained with sin, and the only thing that can wash away the sin, is the blood of Jesus. When we believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and after three days rose from the dead to give us life, He makes us white as snow. (Romans 5:8, John 3:16, Isaiah 1:18)
White represents the righteousness of Christ. Believers wear His righteousness, but repentance for our sins is ongoing. We can’t be like the imagery of the underwear with one leg in the basket ready to be washed clean, while leaving the other in the world. Repentance is as much an ongoing discipline as what doing the laundry is a never-ending task. All sin must be washed clean, not just that of one side.
Seeking Scripture for clues to my mysterious underwear imagery, I found God used underwear to reveal a similar truth in Jeremiah 13:1-11, the Christian Standard Bible.
This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment and put it on. But do not put it in water.” So, I bought underwear as the Lord instructed me and put it on.
Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: “Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing and go at once to the Euphrates and hide it in a rocky crevice.” So, I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
A long time later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there.” So, I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined—of no use at all.
Then the word of the Lord came to me: “This is what the Lord says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem. These evil people, who refuse to listen to me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who have followed other gods to serve and bow in worship—they will be like this underwear, of no use at all. Just as underwear clings to one’s waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to me”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“so that they might be my people for my fame, praise, and glory, but they would not obey.
God compared himself to the waistband of a pair of underwear! Two kingdoms banded together, like a right and a left leg of a pair of underwear clinging to the waistband, until pride led them to sin and their undies got soiled.
The state of our nation and the division among us has been weighing heavily on my mind. Maybe you, like me, have wondered, “What can I do?” I believe the image with the mailbox and underwear answers this question.
Think of letters we send as a representation of our voice. We write to people because we have something we want to say, share, or request. We can use the Word of God to share the Good News about Jesus and His love.
God bound us to himself to be His people, holy and righteous for His honor and glory. How will America ever be united? Through common ordinary clean underwearing people (wearing the righteousness of Christ) delivering (US mailbox) the Good News and love of Jesus Christ.