Which color stripe do you wear?

On a recent visit to my retina specialist, I met a very interesting man. He was wearing a baseball cap with various decorations that told me he was a navy veteran. I spoke to him and asked him what ship he had served on and in what war. He told me that over 20 years in the navy he had served on two aircraft carriers. We had a great conversation about his experiences while in the navy. He showed me many pictures taken while he was serving in the navy. In one picture I noticed his uniform’s left arm had several red chevrons. Now each chevron or stripe indicates four years of service. If you have had disciplinary problems of some sort, you were required to wear a red chevron. As he showed me different pictures of him in his uniform, I noticed that in some of the pictures the chevrons were red while in other pictures the chevron was gold, and I asked him the difference. He then explained to me that he did not want to wear the gold chevron because this indicates a perfect record. Over the years he had many bad experiences with the shore patrol which required him to wear the red stripe. {The shore patrol is the police force for the navy}

However, after 10 years of error free service the past is forgiven, and you are required to change on your uniform the red stripe to a gold stripe.

Since He was promoted to wear the gold chevron, by navy regulation to wear a uniform with red stripes he would be out of uniform and subject to court martial. Therefore, in the simplest terms possible, in the navy a red chevron means you have been bad, and a gold chevron means you have been good. He felt that he did not deserve to wear the gold chevron on his sleeve

As I thought about this, I said to myself, that is exactly how God looks at us. The Bible says that we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We all wear a spiritual red stripe in the sight of God because we have been bad, God calls it sin.

However, the good news is that by faith in Jesus; that red stripe is turned to gold in the eyes of God. In 2nd Corinthians 5:17 the Bible says ” If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new”

As we walked out of the doctor’s office together, I asked him a simple question: In God’s sight are you wearing a gold stripe or a red stripe? He did not answer and slowly walked away.

My prayer for you is that if today you sense that you deserve a red stripe turn to Jesus, ask him to be your Savior and symbolically you will have a gold stripe but a permeant place In God’s kingdom. You are now a son or daughter of the Highest, and you can be assured that he will never turn his back on his own! But when you do sin simply go to your Heavenly Father, confess your sin and thank Him for forgiveness.

If you are at this time a child of the King go and share this story with another who may need a stripe changed.