Less is More

 

 

 

     Have you ever seen a child put on layers of clothes? Instead of taking off the old ones first they just put another layer on top of the old. Or when they get ready to play in the snow, those oversized snow clothes seem a bit ill-fitted when they are already wearing layers of heavy clothing underneath. To watch a child try to run or play is almost amusing due to the many layers of clothing hindering movement.

     Keep that image in your head children of God because when you go out and try to spiritually dress yourselves for the day in clothing appropriate for what will come. Ask yourself If you have limited movement and feel no freedom as you go about your day. If we want to be able to go out and accomplish the mighty works of God we need to dress appropriately but often we try to keep the restricting clothing of our past and of this world underneath the new clothes that God has given us.

     I saw a disturbing bunch of pictures called “The People of Walmart” on the internet. Most of the pictures are of people who either have little understanding of how ill fitted their clothes are or how very silly they look. How we dress at Walmart may not be as important in the scheme of things as how we dress for other things but it gave me a glimpse into how important it is for us to clothe ourselves for the day ahead. For example: Your child is in cardiac arrest and the paramedic is wearing a clown costume and has a child’s toy medic bag, would you allow that paramedic to work on your child? Another example would be if you went to the dentist and the man claiming to be the best dentist in town had nasty yellow and black teeth, some rotted, some crooked and falling out, and a few missing teeth. A man claiming to care about dental care who has obvious gum disease plaguing his mouth. Would you allow this man to be your dentist?

     I’m not addressing the prideful idea of self  image, I am addressing the idea that as Christians we seldom dress the part spiritually of someone who even understands the name we represent. We have old habits and life styles from our past that don’t fit well with the new life we have in Christ.

     As a child grows up we have to replace the old clothes. How silly if we just left them on and covered them up with new clothes. But so many of us are living this way. We try to cover up our “bitterness” with a garment of “grace”, or we try to cover up our past “fear” with a covering of “Love”. How very silly we must look, telling others to love when we ourselves are just dressing the part. Have you ever wanted to be more genuine? I have found myself literally yelling at my children to love each other or to be nice or to stop yelling! I think to myself I am so not the right person for the job all too often. I used to keep a clicker in my mind of how many days I had left to become the mom I wanted to be before I damaged my poor children beyond repair. Part of it was that I was looking at my new clothes on the outside, but I could feel the scratchy wool of the old garments underneath.  

     Sometimes we feel like we are back at the beginning when we finally have that melt down moment when the heat gets to us and we find ourselves undressing and see the old garments. Good news people!! God knew this was part of our struggle and he has a way for us to be free.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

     Such Good news for all the layers we get to lay down, how light and freeing! One of my favorite verses is about God giving us his yoke, for it is light and easy to bare. His banner over us is love! On those days we don’t understand why God would have us dragging around so much baggage we have to ask ourselves if it is his baggage we are carrying or just layers of clothing that up to this point we couldn’t bare to part with.

     Are we ready to stop dressing ourselves in our old clothes, leaving on that layer of old desires and worn out dreams of selfish pursuit? Are we ready to lay down the liar, and the thief, the bitter, fear plagued mess that can find no rest, no joy and no peace because the old garments are still clinging closely to our bodies as we try to dress ourselves in the righteousness of God?

Psalm 30:11

"You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy"

     We need our sackcloth removed! But a word of caution, after we have undressed, we need to put something on so that we are not naked. Sometimes we try to wear it all, sometimes we wear the old garments, sometimes we are naked, but God wants us to be clothed in his garments.

     God has many garments for us to put on, Garments of praise and thanksgiving (Psalms), garments of strength and dignity (Proverbs), Garments of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness and Self Control (Galatians), Garments of Warfare (Ephesians). He has given us a full wardrobe, but to walk in the fullness we must take off the sackcloth.

     This week a spirit of bitterness came over me and tried to clothe me in its apparel. I knew something was off because I was so irritable. I had made myself vulnerable and before I knew it I wasn’t even wearing it under my clothes, like a bad spray on tan it was all I could do to get rid of it. I was completely covered in it until I had some very amazing friends lay hands on me and pray over me. Instantly a heaviness was lifted and spirit of peace fell over me like a blanket. I can’t explain it any other way than to say that this world is full of ill-fitting clothing manufactured with the intent of holding us down and keeping us back from God's love. But God has created us so uniquely that he has said those clothes will never fit. They will only ever be a poor imitation at best of what he wants to clothe us in.  First of all He wants to cover us with his love and it was so important that he did this by covering us in the blood of his Son. He used the wool of his most precious lamb to clothe our nakedness. In response to that we can not carry around all these layers of sin and shame, toil and torment, destruction and despair. It's time to let God strip down the layers and clothe us in his garments.

     Lord Remove our sackcloth, remove the filth of the enemy and the emptiness of this world. Completely clothe us in your righteousness and give us your garments. That we would be dressed in your likeness Oh Lord, that we would radiate the beauty of our king. We want to carry ourselves in such a way that we can move in great power to free the captives and experience the great joys of walking in the light. Thank you precious father for these intimate, tailor made robes. Wrap us in the love that you intend for us to walk in. All my heart rejoices and marvels at your gracious and giving heart. I love you so much. Amen.