This Christmas, my 5-year-old received a generous helping of clothes. I know clothes are not as exciting as some other gifts we get, but stay with me. Every year she gets these clothes and we always try to buy them 1 or 2 sizes too big so she will be able to wear them for more than a month or two. And each year it strikes me how big they look next to her as she unwraps them. But what hits me even more is that as she puts them on, they don’t look quite so large after all. And after a few months have passed, you couldn’t possibly say they are too big for her. She’s already grown into them and they look great on her!
As I thought about that this past week, I wondered if God feels the same way looking at us, His children. He gifts us with “new clothes” every so often, asking us to shred our old ones so that we become a bit more like His Son. The clothes look new and desirable. Who wouldn’t want to be less jealous of others, kinder, or simply more confident of things to come? But as we try them on, they initially feel a little awkward, like they don’t belong to us. They shake our routine up a bit. Gradually as we continue on though, we grow into our new clothes and they begin fit like pair of perfectly worn-in shoes and the process begins again in another area of our lives.
1 Peter 2:1-2 (GNT) says, “Rid yourselves, then, of all evil; no more lying or hypocrisy or jealousy or insulting language. Be like newborn babies, always thirsty for the pure spiritual milk, so that by drinking it you may grow up and be saved.” It’s not always easy getting a new set of clothes. Sometimes we feel more comfortable with what we’ve got. But as we grow into them, we get to see how great a gift they really are. What new clothes is God asking you to change into?
Be a witness,
Nate