There are many times, for different reasons, we just throw something on, referring to how we dress. We don’t try to match, make no effort to coordinate, and minimize concerns about who we might run into. We just throw something on! Honestly, many of us picked up habits during the pandemic, and we adopted a nonchalant attitude relating to what we wear. We just throw something on.
Oh I cannot leave out the people who really plan their ”outfits,” carefully laying out what they are going to wear, intending to look good. But if and when they get a compliment about their ensemble, or a criticism regarding their attire, they casually say, “I just threw something on.”
As it relates to just throwing something on, I have two words for us, “Not today!” No, today we are going to consciously plan to wear something that shows that we are children of God. I could be talking about our outer wear, because as I learned Wednesday and Thursday night Bible Study classes, we need to make sure we don’t imitate, emulate the styles of the ungodly because that can evolve into copying or adopting their practices and principles. While we need to be conscious of what we wear externally, I want to focus on that which we wear on the inside that comes out on the outside.
Only a small fraction of the readership of Mark Writes is familiar with the closing passage below, a passage that our faithful Bible Study participants, students of the word, read in our hearing. So, because it is profitable, I am presenting it to you to ensure that you don’t just throw something on in terms of your Christian wardrobe. Read the whole passage below, and as always, after reflecting, make a decision to react properly by taking off that which we should not wear and by putting on what we should wear. Like I said, as far as just throwing something on, “Not Today!” Have a great Friday! Be blessed!
“So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ. And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It’s because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn’t long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk. Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ. So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.” (Colossians 3:1-14 The Message Bible)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King