Put on love and good deeds. Clothe yourself in Jesus and delight in all that he’s sacrificed to give you.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and getting me dressed is not easy.
I often wish I could dress myself. But because of my quadriplegia, I can't pull on a sweater, or button a jacket, or hike up a pair of slacks. It can be a frustrating predicament, trying to dress an adult like me when my arms and hands flop around. It’s especially frustrating if I’m training someone new to help me. I usually try to teach them in saying you know, “Pretend you’re dressing your child [or grandchild], like, put your hand through the sleeve, reach for my fingers; that’s right, now, grab them, and pull my arm out through the sleeve; okay, you got to lean me forward, stuff the fabric down behind me; that’s it okay, now hike the shoulder seams up, smooth the wrinkles.” They don’t always know how to put clothes on another person, and so, we have to keep it light; I mean, they’re in training and I certainly don’t want to be impatient with them so if we get stuck, if my fingers snag in the fabric, I breathe a quick prayer for help. And isn't it like the Lord to give not only his help, but his insight.
Because I happened to read Galatians 3:27 the other day where it says, "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." Wow! Oh, to be able to clothe yourself, right?” That verse made me smile and so I decided to hunt down other references in the Bible to clothes. Isaiah 61:10 says, "I delight greatly in the Lord...for he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness." I love that. It says, he has clothed me; he has arrayed me. And there's a similar reference in the book of Revelation. And even back at the Garden of Eden, it was God who clothed Adam and Eve with skins after they rebelled against him. And then there is this familiar Scripture: God has given me a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness. Well, when you look at all these references to God clothing us with salvation or dressing us in his righteousness, it’s got to make you wonder – why does the Bible say that God clothes us when it speaks of our salvation?
And that’s when it hit me. Garments of salvation and robes of righteousness are things we cannot provide for ourselves. Even with Adam and Eve, God had to sacrifice some animal in order to come up with skins that would cover their nakedness [a kind of covering for their sin]. So, it’s God who provides the salvation and the righteousness. Oh sure, we can clothe ourselves with Christ, but still, God provided his Son; it's his righteousness, not ours. Righteousness is something that God does to us and for us. In fact, when we try to impress God by our own acts of righteousness, the Bible doesn't call them clothes, he calls them, "filthy rags" [that’s what it says in Isaiah 64]. Can you imagine putting on filthy rags, smelly and all soiled? And so, now I think of these things whenever someone dresses me! And why wouldn’t I be patient, right? It’s all a gift, a glorious gift. Friend, the Lord Jesus Christ is our vestment of praise, our robe of righteousness, and our garment of salvation. God has provided that vestment, that robe, that garment as a precious gift. So, please today do not put on self-righteousness, but dress yourself in Christ. Put on love and good deeds. Clothe yourself in Jesus and delight in all that he’s sacrificed to give you something so priceless; that he purchased with his blood – his righteousness. And those are your hope-filled words for today.
© Joni and Friends