From: Ben Kelley
Subject: "Put on's", part 3From the introduction to part 1- Most of us, upon waking in the morning, or soon after, take off
our bedclothes and put on other clothing in preparation for the
day's events. I don't believe many of us would, as a habit, ignore this
practice and head out each morning in our bedclothes, for it is a necessary part
of our preparation for the day's activities. The Bible regularly tells us
to do the same sort of thing spiritually. In this series of messages, I
want us to look at and consider a number of these passages and try to make it a
habit to do what they say, regularly, each morning and any time we think about it.
Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:11-12
(KJV) We tend to forget we are "in between" what we once were and what we will be. We are no longer lost and
undone, but we have not yet received the completely new body and spirit we will
occupy throughout eternity. We have eternal life, but we are still in the
old body and susceptible to the snares, temptations, attacks, etc., that we used
to respond to in the old, fleshly way. We forget we have to consciously take the step of putting on that spiritual "clothing", the armor
and weaponry that protects us and makes us able to face and fend off our true
enemies. We tend to operate in the old fleshly way, believing that the
people and situations we face physically are the enemies we must face and
conquer. Paul reminds us, in this passage from Ephesians 6, that our true
enemies and problems are not the ones we see, but, rather, the ones we don't
see. The reason we fall on our faces so often is because we are trying to
face an unseen enemy with seen weapons and protection. Large bank
accounts, good jobs, big houses, and carrying big sticks won't suffice.
Only the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the
Gospel, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Word
of God will work against those unseen enemies, and they don't just fall into
place on us. Our faith is to be in God, not ourselves.
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy
and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any
man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things put on charity (agape- God type love), which is the bond
of perfectness. (Colossians 3:12-14 (KJV) None of the things in this
list above are "natural" to any of us. That is why it says we are to "put
on" each of them. We (those of us saved by faith in the finished work of
Jesus) talk a lot about love, but rarely do we truly exhibit that love.
Think of your attitude towards your co-workers, fellow students, or those you
come into contact with regularly; are you merciful (full of
mercy) towards them, or do you hold grudges or ill-feelings towards them?
How kind are you to your loved ones, or those who "rub you" the
wrong way? Are you truly humble, meek, and
longsuffering? Do you forbear (to be patient or
self-controlled when subject to annoyance or provocation) and
forgive those who really "bug you"? How about that last thing our
Scripture verse told us to put on, are you loving others as God
loves you and them? In honesty, you probably, and I, definitely, need to
spend a little (or a lot) more time and effort in putting
on each of these attributes. The only way I know of that helps me
do this is to consciously try to see others through the eyes of Jesus, seeing
they have the same needs of mercy, kindness, longsuffering, forbearance,
forgiveness, and love as I do. God gives each of
these things to us, we don't earn or deserve any of
them. As Jesus told the 12 Disciples as HE sent them out: freely ye have received, freely give.
(Matthew 10:8 (KJV)
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