Okay, it's been a slightly frustrating week. Let's just leave it at that and move on. Still dealing with some worries over...oops, there I go again. Rehearsing my woes rather than restating my reasons for worship! Isn't that just our tendency--go back to the same old empty well of fretting and complaining rather than praying and thanking? It all comes from focusing on our circumstances rather than fixing our eyes upon Christ.
And sometimes, we just have to take the bull by the horns, and tell our emotions to take a hike and instead to bend to the dictates of our will as directed by God's Word.
We need to take off our fear and selfishness and pride...and instead choose to put on the clothing of faith and love and humility.
Col.3:12-17 "12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness,humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
Doesn't that just say it all! Time to take off our tired, old clothing of complaining and worrying and put on His robes of thanking and trusting.
But just in case we need a tad more encouragement, here's what good old C.S.Lewis says (and he began by talking about the Lord's Prayer):
"Its very first words are Our Father. Do you now see what those words mean? They mean quite frankly, that you are putting yourself in the place of a son of God. To put it bluntly, you are dressing up as Christ. If you like, you are pretending. Because, of course, the moment you realize what the words mean, you realize that you are not a son of God. You are not being like The Son of God, whose will and interests are at one with those of the Father: you are a bundle of self-centered fears, hopes, greeds, jealousies, and self-conceit, all doomed to death. So that, in a way, this dressing up as Christ is a piece of outrageous cheek. But the odd thing is that He has ordered us to do it.
Why? What is the good of pretending to be what you are not? Well, even on a human level, you know, there are two kinds of pretending. There is a bad kind, where the pretense is there instead of the real thing; as when a man pretends he is going to help you instead of really helping you. But there is also a good kind, where the pretense leads up to the real thing. When you are not feeling particularly friendly but know you ought be be, the best thing you can do, very often, is to put on a friendly manner and behave as if you were a nicer person than you actually are. And in a few minutes, as we have all noticed, you will be really feeling friendlier than you were.
Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already. That is why children's games are so important. They are always pretending to be grown-ups--playing soldiers, playing shop. But all the time, they are hardening their muscles and sharpening their wits so that the pretense of being grown-ups helps them to grow up in earnest.
Now, the moment you realize 'Here I am, dressing up in Christ,' it is extremely likely that you will see at once some way in which at that very moment the pretense could be made less of a pretense and more of a reality. You will find several things going on in your mind which would not be going on there if you were really a son of God. Well, stop them. Or may realize that, instead of saying your prayers, you ought to be downstairs writing a letter, or helping your wife to wash-up. Well, go and do it."
Good stuff! So, today, let's choose to put on the clothing of Christ--His love, His joy, His peace, His patience, His grace...and trust that He is changing and making us more and more into His likeness day by day. Let's dress up in Jesus! To God be the glory.
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