Dressing Up Like Jesus

“Rather, clothe yourselves with the LORD Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” Romans 13:14

When my youngest daughter Caroline was a little girl she certainly had her own ideas of what she would wear each day. I would lay out an outfit only to see her appear at the bottom of the stairs with some outlandish version of her own creation. Most of the time, it was inappropriate for school. Her undergarments usually consisted of a bathing suit while her outer garments were not temperature appropriate. More times than not she and I did not agree with her clothing…and then there was the princess tiara!

More times than not we probably do not clothe ourselves in the garments for which God lays out. His garments may vary but they will always be sewn with love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness and gentleness. They will never be inappropriate for the elements we must face daily. I remember my grandmother wrote in one of her journals many years ago that she ‘presents herself to Christ each morning with the garment of praise and presents her shoulders to Him to be clothed by Him.’ She was ‘dressing up like Jesus’ as she wanted to be Him when she grew up.

We have all seen people who catch our eye either spiritually or physically, and secretly wish to have certain character traits similar to them. When we dress up like Jesus we all have access to wear the garments of righteous living which will never wear out. God lays out specific spiritual clothing each morning but will we pick up that shirt of forgiveness? Will we slip on our feet those shoes of service? Will we place upon our head the hat of renewed and focused thoughts on Christ?

We must not go back to the closet to look for those old attitudes to slip on. We must throw out the old and put on the new. If we keep moving spiritually, we will continue to outgrow our spiritual clothing as we grow in our faith. Then one beautiful day we will be able to wear that sparkling tiara as we are awarded the ultimate crown of glory with Him in Heaven.