More Rain

Rain, rain and more rain has brought my deck work to a standstill. Today, Tuesday, as I write this the sun finally came out a little during the late afternoon, but the weather forecast calls for the possibility of more rain this evening and tomorrow. We will have to wait and see what the weather does. As a result I do not have a positive progress report.

Sunday evening at my life group meeting, a verse we looked at was found at Romans 13:14: "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." I couldn't resist asking what it meant to clothe oneself with Jesus Christ. As we discussed it some thoughts developed in my mind, which I shared then and will briefly share here.

When we clothe oneself with something, we cover up something else with what we are putting on. Then when we go out others see what we have put on. If we have truly put on Jesus Christ then he is who others should see when they look at us.

Later in the evening a member of the group came back to my illustration and that prompted some further thoughts in my mind. In front of me was a pen and a bottle of water. All of a sudden I saw the water bottle as Jesus Christ and me as the pen. If I am truly clothed with Jesus Christ then as the pen I would be inside the water bottle. That reminded me as being in Christ, which according to my illustration of the pen and water bottle, I should see things through the eyes of Jesus Christ, hear things through his ears, speak through his mouth, and think his thoughts. Everything about me should be as if Jesus Christ was living through me.

I thought about how thin the garment is that I have clothed myself with. If it is too thin then people will see through it and see me. The goal is to have on a heavy, thick garment so that Jesus Christ is clearly seen.