GALATIANS 3:27

“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

Wearing the right clothes for the right occasion is important. For instance, you wouldn’t wear a baseball uniform to play football. You wouldn’t put on our tights and ballerina shoes to run a marathon. We have clothes for all kinds of things, don’t we? Some are expensive and some are just our “knock around” clothes. (I keep telling my wife those old shirts are necessary, lol.)

Paul reminds us that as believers we have another garment. We have been “clothed…with Christ.” What does that mean? We wrap ourselves with His sentiments, His passion, His love. We clothe ourselves with Him so that when people look at us, they see Him, not us. Paul may have been thinking also about the white robes believers often wore at baptism. Wearing those robes must have made those early believers connect to the idea of a totally different life now in Jesus.

APPLICATION

New clothes can make a man. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” Over in Colossians 3:9-10, Paul gives us another picture of taking off the old and putting on the new. “9 Do not lie to one another, since you stripped off the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created it—”

What are you wearing today? Are you wearing Jesus? Or are you still pulling on those old ugly dungarees stained with self? They may feel comfy, but they come with a lot of baggage. Do as Paul said and put on the new self. That new self is only possible as we throw away the old stuff. Get rid of it. I know it’s hard to do but do it. You’ll be glad you did.

Back to today’s verse – “clothe yourselves with Christ.” I worked with a fellow pastor who was described by the middle schoolers he worked with as “Jesus with skin on.” They meant he lived like Jesus. Is that not the goal of each of us? So, change your clothes today if you are not wearing Jesus.

Lord, I am so thankful that I have been given a new garment.