Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Colossians3:9-11
Before we get into what our new garments (the new self) look like, there are some vitally important things that we must understand about our new threads.
Firstly: These clothes are never out of fashion. They are constantly "being renewed in knowledge in the image of the Creator." Christianity isn't a static or historical tradition. It is a relationship. Our new uniform is reflective - it is to be a reflection of Jesus. Our "new self" is to look like Him. We cannot wear our parent's understanding of Christianity, we cannot wear last year's view of Jesus, we aren't wearing the same garments we wore on the day we gave our hearts to Christ. If the "brand" is authentic and not a rip off, the clothes are up to date - they come out of the conversation we had with Him this morning...
Secondly: Our new clothes are more a uniform than a costume. Although many of you liked my Spiderman analogy yesterday, Spidey's costume makes him stand out as unique and different. The garments of the new-self that we wear are more like a uniform: we all look the same, because we are all becoming like Jesus. Although this sounds bland, it is remarkably freeing: there is no Greek, Jew, slave or free. There are not big and little sinners, just people who are saved by Christ and longing to be more like Him. The ground at the foot of the cross is level.
Psalm 30:11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and CLOTHED ME WITH JOY,
12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
