Taking it off

Don't put it on until you take it off.

In Roman 13:14 and Galatians 3:27 Paul talks about putting on Christ, but this is in contrast to the carnality we're already wearing.

Isn't our nature is to "put it on"? ;)

The public face(s) that we wear just like outfits we wear to the office or to dining out, or for working in the yard.

People who attempt to wear Christ over the top of their own pretense only end up making Christ look bad, just as attempting to wear a beautiful gown over the top of a jump suit would simply look bizarre.

The problem is this; The death experienced in the garden was literally separation from God.

In the long term this would realized in the deterioration of our bodies. But there was an immediate consequence as well, because man was originally created "linked" to God so that there was complete security in the relationship.

Imagine a life where there was truly nothing to worry about, ever, to any degree, simply nothing to ever worry about...total absence of fear.

Well two things happened as a result of Adam's sin. First, that link was severed so that the security and confidence that emanated from within was no longer present. And second, his eyes were open to recognize his vulnerability and guilt.

Adam's first thought was to hide! Maybe God wouldn't find him until he could figure out how to disguise his failure...

His next thought was to "put it on". He needed to cover his shame and so he came up with a solution for his "nakedness" by fixing fig leafs over the "offencive areas".

Maybe he could pull it off? Maybe God wouldn't notice? With his "shame covered" why should there be any questions about conduct? (This was all uncharted territory because Adam was first to experience...well, anything!)

But of course God knew before He even went into the garden to confront Adam.

Each morning we wake up and we have a choice, and the most natural thing to do is to pick up our favorite, most comfortable pretense and "put it on".

Our belief is that this has covered our shame (though for some of us it is our biggest shame) and it is our way of dealing with those deep seated fears that we're generally unaware of because they've just kina been there from the very begin.

When we attempt to put Christ over the top of our pretense what we get is disfigured morality and no one is fooled.

Take it off. Get real. Get honest. And then just take it off.

Then you can clothe yourself in Christ with all sincerity. ;)