Have you taken time to get dressed today? Or are you still in your soiled clothes of yesterday?
(No judgement here. I rock yesterdays clothes sometimes until they are no longer from yesterday) One thing I am working on is even if I don’t change my physical clothes I am striving to always change my spiritual clothes. Throughout scripture it talks about putting on Christ (or things of Christ) and taking off the filthy rags of old. In your day-to-day life its hard not to get soiled with unrighteousness. As a mom of 4 littles I rarely make it through a day without getting short-tempered — I am working on it but it is something I have to be mindful to disrobe from in this season and diligently putting on patience and kindness.
In the book of Colossians Paul speaks of things we must remove and what we must clothe ourselves in as a follower of Christ.
“But now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all. Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. Above all, put on love—the perfect bond of unity.” Colossians 3:8-14
If you try to put on a beautiful gown on before removing your filthy rags you may be successful in getting it on but you won’t fool those around you about what is underneath. We must be diligent to take off our previous mess before putting on our new selves.
Lets not walk in a masquerade only pretending to imitate who we are called to be but actually living a life worthy of the cross.
Before you start to beat yourself up be sure to give yourself grace. When you were young you didn’t magically know how to get dressed it took time to learn how to zip, button, pull your head through. You can not expect yourself to live flawlessly in your actions right away. I can’t say that I remember learning how to get dressed as a kid but I do remember when I was in India learning how to put on a sari. Women in India think it is no big thing to take a long piece of fabric wrap it around them. For me wrapping a sari took many failed attempts to get it on in a halfway decent way. I had two different ladies show me in person and if I tried to put it on today I would likely have to pull up a YouTube video to give me guidance.
While you are learning to walk as Christ surround yourself with people who already know how to get “dressed” people who can show you how to take off the old and put on the new. Invite their input and heed what they share with you. Take time to find your refresher courses when you need it, get in the Word, listen to podcasts, read blogs and have grace.
I loved my saris, honestly this post makes me want to go dig them out of my closet and wear them again. Here are a few shots from when I wore them in 2009:
I am not sure why but I love this photo. This was the night I desperately tried to wrap my sari well. It was a mess but I went out for mango lassi and snacks in it anyway because I was proud.
You may not be able to see it well but this is graduation day in my sari on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and my beautiful friend, Rachelle. By this point in my trip my camera had broken so I only have random snapshots from friends.
This shot was captured and edited by Jessica Carpenter. This night was literally life changing for me as I sat in Amber’s (Jessica’s sister) car and had God speak to my heart about my identity in a way I had never experienced.
If you don’t believe me about saris watch this how-to…
Grace to you as you learn how to put on your righteous robe of Christ.
