…clothe yourselves with …
Summary: Paul provides us with an interesting metaphor for Christian living — putting on clothes. It is something we all do every day, and it is an easy way to visualize the change God wants to see in our lives.
Yikes! This is where Christianity gets real.
Looking back at verses nine and ten, Paul talks about taking off the “old self” and putting on the “new self.” Now he is telling us exactly how to do it. In the transition from nonbeliever to believer, this difference between “old self” and “new” is where the rubber hits the road.
And what, exactly, is the difference?
The answer has to do with who is in charge of your life.
We are all wired with something called “self-interest.” Self-interest in its purest form is simply the desire to stay alive. If Adam and Eve had never been tempted by the serpent, this desire for life would have kept them from touching the forbidden tree (Genesis 2-3).
Unfortunately, when they ate the forbidden fruit, they “died” as God had warned (Genesis 2:16-17). They became separated from God which is the same as being spiritually dead. What was left were two bodies whose self-interest became their god.
Self-interest apart from God is responsible for everything that is wrong in the world. Every rape, burglary, and murder is the result of serving self-interest. Every time a person lies or manipulates another, they are serving their self-interest. Even simple arguments are because of self-interest.
The only cure for this horrible condition is putting God before self (Matthew 22:37-40). The person who subordinates their self-interest to God is transformed because of who God is.
God is love (1 John 4:8).
The kind of love God has for us appears stern when we behave badly, and life-giving when we humbly submit. Without God’s Word, the Bible, we might be unsure what it means to submit to God’s will. Fortunately, God provided us with a wealth of information.
Submitting to God is like putting on clothes when you get dressed in the morning.
The godly person still has self-interest, but he is clothed in humility; bowed before God. The outer clothing is that which is seen by others; compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience. The man or woman of God hides the balance sheet kept by self-interest and erases any entries with a forgiving heart.
Finally, most challenging of all, is wrapping self-interest in submission to others. Not submission to their self-interest, but rather submission to their existence. We allow them to exist as equals to our own self-interest.
God’s closet is full of wonderful “clothing” to wear. It is all perfectly tailored to our needs and our size. All we have to do is put them on.
Application: Get dressed with God!
Food for Thought: What keeps these godly “clothes” in place once we have put them on?
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Continue reading “Colossians 3:12b – God’s Closet”