It’s a traditional etiquette rule that you can only wear white shoes from Memorial Day to Labor Day. In some regions that is still strictly observed but in other places it has gone by the wayside.

I read an article about it that says lots of people no longer obey the rule but feel vaguely guilty for not doing so. I wonder: what’s the reason behind the rule? Probably originally there was one but I don’t know anybody who knows any longer what it was.

There are lots of rules in “religion” too. I’m not talking about commands in the Bible – the ones that come from God. I’m talking about the kind of stuff man makes up. Sometimes they are attached to denominations and built up over time. Sometimes they originally had a purpose that no longer exists.

Are you or your church operating under those kinds of rules right now? Or, having given them up, are you feeling vaguely guilty for doing so? Old habits often die hard. Well there is a “rule” in the Bible that might make it easier.

Since Christ came we are living in a new day of freedom “as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:6) Now there’s a rule that won’t go out of style.

Stack your behavior up against that one and you won’t have to worry about any white shoe rules.