forliberty--a brave heart's quest for freedom

What I'm Wearing for Halloween

On October 31 a lot of people will put on costumes.  Some will be adorable like the lady bug Heather’s little girl will become or our pumpkin Amanda.

Others will indicate what kids want to be when they grow up like a doctor or astronaut.  Some will be historical or fictional characters like Disney princesses or our Native American Allison. 

All these be-costumed kids at heart will go trick-or-treating or to parties.  Our church is having a “Trunk or Treat” event to bless the children in our church and community. We think it's so much better than leaving the night to those who would glorify the darkness of the world we live in. The night can be celebrated in innocence, and just to enjoy a night for the kids to dress up and get special treats from friends and neighbors.

 

The costumes I won’t like will be scary and/or evil.  Some people wear them and go out to cause mischief and mayhem.  I don’t really go in for this kind of celebration as a night that gives evil permission to come out and frolic with ordinary folks.   What I object to is calling evil good and making light of dark spiritual forces.  So, you won’t see me donning a costume and celebrating.  But I will need to put on some unusual sounding duds for the evening.

 

In Romans 13:14 we’re told to clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.  I was wondering this week what it would feel like to have Jesus cover my body like a garment, so I started to search the Scriptures to see if I could get a more concrete idea. 

 

Isaiah 61:10 says, “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”(NIV)  I can picture what a bridegroom or bride looks like adorned in their wedding finery.  They would have on their most special clothes.  They’d be clean and well pressed.  The most priceless jewels would come out to be worn on their big day.  Even the garments would be ornamented with jewels or lace.  These wedding clothes are put on in love and respect for their beloved.  They’re worn with great anticipation as family and friends gather together to celebrate the couple’s union and the joy they all feel.  Is this how I “wear” my salvation? 

 

I delight greatly in the Lord as I realize how priceless my salvation is to me and to Him.  I do hold the fact that I now have right standing with God through the forgiveness of my sins that Jesus bought for me as the most precious thing in my life.  This right standing with God is called a robe of righteousness.  In myself, there’s no way I can be good enough to earn my salvation.  But, when I accept what Jesus has done for me and receive His salvation, He puts righteousness on me like a robe.  I wear it in deepest respect and love for Him and I am filled with joy.  I eagerly anticipate what my life here on earth will be like with Him and then I get to live with Him forever in heaven.  My soul rejoices in MY God.

 

Another passage that tells me how to wear the Lord Jesus is found in Colossians 3:12-15.  “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.  Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” (NLT)  I have to work to clothe myself with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  None of these come natural to me.  As I pray and ask the Lord to help me grow in these areas, it’s like putting on new clothes.  The old, automatic, selfish reactions to people and circumstances are slowly being replaced with my new self.  I find it challenging that it says, “above all, clothe yourselves with love.”  Our love garment to wear above all is the agape kind of love spoken of in the Bible.  It’s an act of the will, a choice that takes great joy in looking out for the best good of another.  Agape is about as far from my natural, self-centered nature as possible.  It’s a new outfit that I certainly need to put on to cover my old rags.

 

Romans 13:11-14  tells about getting rid of my old rags. “This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.” (NLT)  This passage gives me a little more insight into what it is like to clothe myself with the Lord Jesus Christ.  I do it by being constantly aware of His presence in my life.  There’s never a time He leaves me, but there could be times I’m not aware of His presence.  As I constantly put away my own evil desires and deeds, I’m ridding myself of my old dirty clothes.  As I ask the Holy Spirit to constantly fill me with a sense of His presence, I’m putting on my new clothes.  It’s interesting that peace and thankfulness follow when we put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Over all these clothes, I need to put on the shining armor of right living.  Ephesians 6:10-18 tells me how to put on this spiritual armor. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (NIV)

 

I’m going to have the right costume for Halloween and every day as I get rid of all my old, selfish thoughts and plans and put on the clothes God has for me to live a joyous, satisfying and protected life.  Salvation, righteousness, tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and especially love topped off with the spiritual armor are more than a costume.  They’re how I dwell in the presence of the Lord Jesus and “wear” Him like a garment.

What's Written on Your Heart?

It’s one thing to be trained to do what’s right.  It’s another thing entirely to want to do right and to do so even when no one else will find out.   This statement, of course, presupposes that there is a right and wrong, and that we can know which is which.  I’m going to make the assumption that what the Bible teaches as right and true is actually right and true.  How I go from knowing right to choosing to want to do right is a matter of developing and paying attention to a godly conscience.

One important incident in the development of my conscience happened the Christmas I was eight.  My friend Carol and I had asked for matching antebellum dolls for Christmas.  We spent hours fantasizing on how we would play together with those dolls.

I couldn’t wait for Christmas to see if I’d actually get what I wished for.  One day when my mom was busy doing laundry in the basement, my curiosity couldn’t stand any more waiting.  I snuck into her room.  I knew she always hid gifts in her closet.  I searched the closet, but found nothing that looked like it could be my doll.  “The bed.  Maybe she hid it under the bed.”  Sure enough.  In an unwrapped box lay the doll of my dreams.  It was true.  Carol and I really were going to have those matching dolls!

My mom is an expert detective.  She always knows if someone has been in a room in her house.  The slightest item out of place always gives the intruder away.  I think she must have known I was scrounging around in her room.  However, neither she nor Dad ever said anything about it.

“Oh, she’s so beautiful!”  I tried to sound surprised and excited on Christmas Eve as I opened my new doll.  The truth was, I had a terrible feeling in my stomach.  I discovered that it’s no fun to find out what your gifts are ahead of time.  I didn’t like the fact that I’d been a sneak, and now had to lie to cover it up.  I made up my mind never to sneak into my parent’s room again.  I never did.

No amount of punishment inflicted by my parents would have been nearly as effective in changing my behavior as was the development of my own conscience.  I knew I had done wrong, and I didn’t like the guilt I felt.  It kept me from even considering doing the same thing again.

Of course there are larger adult sins that rightfully leave us feeling guilty.  The solution isn’t just to ignore the guilt and purpose never to do the deed again.  When we confess to God, and any humans we’ve wronged if necessary, He gives forgiveness.  Jeremiah 31:33 and 34 says, “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.  And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”  We live in that new covenant age because Jesus paid for all our sins.  When they are confessed, God remembers our sins no more.

God even goes one better.  He puts His instructions deep within us and writes them on our hearts.  We’re not left to guess what pleases God in any circumstance.  His Bible tells us all we need to know, and the Holy Spirit is what speaks to our hearts to remind us what is true.  Some may have never read the Bible, but they were created by God to KNOW what is right. “Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.”(Romans 2:14 & 15; NLT)

The question is, what do we as individuals do when our own consciences start accusing us?  If we respond to our guilt by rationalizing, “everybody does it,” or “it’s no big deal,” we stuff our guilty feelings inside and ignore them.  It will take more and more serious offenses against God’s standards to produce feelings of guilt in the future.  If the guilt keeps being stuffed, we end up with a seared conscience that does not serve us well.  Titus 1:15 and 16 is pretty blunt.  “Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted.  Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.”

Such people may enjoy their way of life and not desire to seek to change.  Others go spiraling down a destructive path one small step at a time.  Others, may not know that they can seek and experience forgiveness and have the opportunity to start over clean.  The rationale goes something like:  “I’ve already lost my virginity (for example).  There’s nothing I can do about it so I might as well keep ignoring my conscience and take my actions to the next level.”  These people feel they are bad because they behave badly.  They’ve lost hope that they can experience God’s forgiveness. They illustrate 1 Timothy 1:19a, “For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.”

How do you recover when you feel your faith has been shipwrecked?  The only way to start is found in Hebrews 10:22: “let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”  “Coming clean’” in God’s presence, asking Jesus to cover our sins with His blood (That means that Jesus’ shed blood on the cross is the only sacrifice acceptable to God for our sins.  When we admit this, His blood “covers” our sins.) and then trusting that He really has made us clean gives us the privilege of starting over with our faith intact. 

We don’t need to live feeling condemned. “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” (Romans 8:1,2; NLT)  If you’re having trouble feeling forgiven, even when you know it’s true, I’d encourage you to memorize these verses and tell them to yourself over and over whenever you’re feeling condemned.  Eventually the truth from your head will sink into your heart, and you can be grateful for your “start over.”

The next step after forgiveness in the start over process is to re-train the conscience.  Proverbs 3 is a wonderful poem of instructions to us.  Verses 1-4 say:

¹ My son, do not forget my teaching,
   but keep my commands in your heart,
² for they will prolong your life many years
   and bring you peace and prosperity.

³ Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
   bind them around your neck,
   write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴ Then you will win favor and a good name
   in the sight of God and man.

Peace of mind is possible if we write God’s teachings on our heart and respond when our consciences give us a warning.  The more we are able to respond correctly to our consciences by choosing what’s right even when no one is looking, the more we will be able to enjoy our good name in the sight of God and man.  I had the following verse as my vision statement all the years I was teaching.  I intend to see that it’s written permanently on my heart as well.

 

“The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.”  (1 Timothy 1:5)