Hats

Hats do more than cover up an old man’s bald spot or conceal a woman’s bad hair day. They can designate responsibility. State patrol officers wear a good-sized brimmed hat. I suspect it is this way so the rain doesn’t get in their eyes when they’re writing us a speeding ticket. What I do know is that I don’t want to see that hat getting closer in my side mirror as the officer walks to my pulled over car. We know what a chef’s hat looks like, but can anyone tell us why it is tall, white, and poofy? We probably don’t know the answer to that but we feel better walking past the restaurant kitchen if the cook has one of those on instead of sporting a backwards baseball cap.

Hats can say something about allegiance, as well. Some of us have Seattle Mariner caps in honor of the hometown nine. After the Seahawks Super Bowl win in February blue and neon green hats are seen everywhere. The mechanic’s Chevy hat says he likes that make of car better than he does a Ford.

We also wear figurative hats; in fact, quite a few of them. They too designate responsibility and allegiance. For instance here are some of the hats I wear: husband, father, pastor, son, brother, uncle, nephew, cousin, son-in-law, brother-in-law, friend, neighbor, and employee. The list is fluid. Just as it can be added to it also can be subtracted from.

But there is a hat all of us wear. It was given to us when we were born and it won’t be taken off until we die. None of us are proud of it. We would just assume no one ever saw us wearing it. We’d love to leave it in our closet. But if anyone spends anytime with us at all they’ve seen it on our head. And we’ve seen everyone we’ve spent any significant time with wearing it too. If there ever was a one-size-fit-all hat, this is it. What is the hat that everyone wears and never comes off? It is the hat of sin. And yours is just as ugly as mine.

There’s something else that sits on some of our heads, however. It’s been given to us and it’s priceless. It’s not a hat. It’s a crown. It is one given to those saved by faith; one given to the adopted sons and daughters of God indicating royalty. This crown also designates responsibility and allegiance.

But unlike most hats, it can’t be lost; once on the head it remains. And there is this: As our Heavenly Father gazes from above, He doesn’t see that ugly hat of sin anymore. It is covered by the crown.

How amazing is that?

Pastor Rich Hamlin

September 19, 2014