Yesterday my husband came home home from work and found me wearing one of his tops - not an uncommon occurrence as I often wear his sweatshirts or T-shirts. They hang off my quite petite frame, and most probably look quite ridiculous. However, I don't care, and I will endure his eye rolling and tutting because it feels a bit like I'm wearing a hug from him all day long, even though we're apart for the day.
I love the image this verse in Romans 13 v 14 creates in my mind...
"But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ"
It gives me a warm feeling when I clothe myself in my hubby's jumpers or t-shirts and I feel different to when I wear my own clothes. For a start, they're huge, so I'd never go out in them (well, actually sometimes I do), however I feel really comfy and comforted in a strange sort of way. How much more so if we can clothe ourselves with Christ?
So how do we do this? The whole chapter leading up to the verse is helping us with what to do. It's a spiritual process but it requires some changes in our physical nature - in what we do, how we react, how we think.
Romans 13 Let every person be loyally subject to the governing (civil) authorities....the authorities that exist are appointed by God
If you read verses 1-5 in full these verses include being respectful to the local authorities and government and adhering to the laws of the land. Regardless of who is in the positions of authority - someone good, or someone bad, someone from the party we support or not - God made the positions so the position is to be respected whomever is in it. David would not speak a word against the King (Saul) even though he sought to kill him. He respected Saul's position and would not "touch the Lord's annointed" when the opportunity came along. We do well to take a leaf from David's book. In today's society we seem to think nothing of speaking ill of our leaders, tearing them apart verbally is everyday sport, yet in God's eyes this is quite a serious matter. Paul spends five verses here addressing the matter, and he speaks of it elsewhere even more specifically in his letters too. Part of clothing yourself with Christ involves us acting and speaking appropriately of those in civic authority.
v 6 - Pay your taxes Jesus Himself said to pay to Caesar his due (the ruler at that time), and to God what was due to God. (Mark 12v17) We are asked to pay what we owe when we owe it. If we're confident that He's our provider and we aren't ruled by a love of money then we won't have any issues doing this.
So these verses deal with our practical living in the land we're in and being a good citizen.
Verses 8-10 then deal with our lives at our everyday level with the people around us - love one another......Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the law
If we love each other as we love ourselves, then we have fulfilled the law (the commandments), and we will live peaceably with others.
V 12 then tells us to put on the armour of light by ensuring we are living lives that are honourable and good. People see us by the things we do - our lives are an open book for people to read. As Christians we are called to ensure that our lives are full of the light of God, and our books are good reading.
Our lives should look different - if they're not, we are missing the point. Verse 13 urges us to make our lives count, not to get drunk, act inappropriately or be jealous and quarrelsome.
V 13 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts
When we clothe ourselves with Christ, we're putting off the the world and its ways, we're putting on His ways and we are representing Him in the world, hence why we are to ensure that we represent Him well. We put off the ways and thoughts of the world and discard them, and we make way for putting on the ways and thoughts of Him. When we're clothed with Him, we walk differently because we carry His thoughts and His presence will be more real to us.
In Galatians 3 Paul uses the same image of clothing ourselves with Christ. For as many [of you] as were baptised into Christ [into a spiritual union and communion with Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah] have put on (clothed yourselves with) Christ
The context in this chapter is that we've come way from the law which cannot save us and which brings us to the end of ourselves, and we've come to God through faith in Him, not by our own strivings. We put on Christ when we look not to ourselves but to Him, when our lives are lived simply for Him. To put on Christ, we must first take off the stuff that is no good, and become new -
Ephesians 4 v 22-24
Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterised your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness
We are new when we clothe ourselves with Christ, but first we must take off the old.
Just like I wouldn't go weeding the garden in my best dress, or to the park with the kids in my high heels, neither will I do certain things when I am clothed with Him. We are not under law, we are saved purely by His grace and nothing we can do - no amount of good works or deeds - can earn us our salvation. Being clothed with Him however is something beyond our salvation. It is living in a way that takes us closer to Him, giving us life in abundance, life with more meaning and more fulfilment. Salvation requires faith in Him, but it doesn't stop there it is a lifelong relationship that is alive and developing day by day. To take off the old and put on the new requires faith and action on our part; it is up to us to clothe ourselves with Him.
