Clothing Ourselves in Christ: A New Year Reflection

As a little boy, his mom, Hannah, takes him to the temple and turns him over to the priest because she prayed for a child and God gave her the child and she gave the child back to God. And every year it says she would, Hannah, would take a robe, make a robe and take it to Samuel and give it to him while he was in service to the priest. [00:02:11] (22 seconds)


What does it say, what does the clothes, the things that we put on, what does it say about us in the spiritual? In the spiritual realm, what we wear to worship. Does our spiritual clothing say anything to anyone else about our identity in Christ? [00:05:30] (20 seconds)


Jesus was wrapped in simple swaddling clothes, it says. Those clothes that he put on him, he put on him. He put on him clothes that he put on him. He put on him clothes as a newborn baby. The God, the creator of the universe, the one who was there and spoke the world into existence, puts on these cloths in a manger when he comes into this silent planet, and it symbolizes his humility, his mission to the world. [00:07:57] (31 seconds)


And these humble beginnings of the one who was there at the beginning of creation point to his mission to serve others, to serve humanity. And I thought about that. This is a hard one for us, for all of us as Christians. What would it look like if we were to wrap ourselves in humility this week? [00:08:41] (27 seconds)


We should not despise little beginnings, something that we talked about from the beginning of our church, that God takes the little things, the insignificant things, and he brings them into his kingdom and provides the resources that they need to do amazing things for his glory and to build his kingdom up. [00:10:25] (22 seconds)


Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion. What does that look like? Kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. [00:11:23] (28 seconds)


And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. He tells us to put these traits on, these characters. This is our garment. This is our outfit. Do men have outfits or do they just have clothes? Men do have outfits? No. Okay. [00:11:53] (24 seconds)


Maybe you think about that spiritual wardrobe as you're putting on your physical wardrobe. Are there traits that maybe you need to take off? Bitterness, anger, resentment, impatience. Take those off before you put on your new garment. Maybe you've struggled with forgiveness, forgiving someone else. [00:13:42] (28 seconds)


As we move into this new year, we need to commit as Christians, as followers of Jesus, to dress daily in the traits that reveal Jesus to the world outside these doors. Reveal Christ to the world by what we wear. You think about that. Let's pray. Father, it's been, for some of us, for many of us, it's been a long year. [00:17:42] (33 seconds)


And so we are committing, Lord, here as followers of Jesus, as your children, that we are going to intentionally put on garments that reflect you, that reflect Jesus, that communicate who you are in our lives to people outside these doors. And they may not be garments that people can see immediately, but they will know there is something different because we're wearing kindness and gentleness, patience. [00:18:31] (31 seconds)