Will It Fit?

 

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New clothes that don’t fit? In Christ - there’s no such thing.

Our pastor touched on various garments mentioned in the Bible, Sunday morning. We can read about priestly garments, wedding garments, garments of salvation, garments of praise and more. And of course there’s the Robe of Righteousness that Jesus gives us when we ask Him to forgive us of our sin and invite Him to live in our heart.

I read somewhere that the enemy never stops accusing us before our heavenly Father. Jesus had (has) accusers, the Apostle Paul had accusers, we all have accusers. The things we may be accused of probably don’t carry a hefty penalty in this world. If our enemy accuses us of gluttony, no judge will throw us in jail. If we’re accused and even found guilty of lying or cheating, or probably even stealing – we’re not going to do jail time. It’s not how our legal systems work. I just read about a teenage boy this morning who raped two girls and got off with a slap on the wrist.

Satan tries to make us look bad to our fellow man or to “ruin our testimony” by highlighting things we’ve done wrong throughout our lives. But in this world, his accusations, whether true or not, don’t generally carry much weight. However, in the kingdom of God, he knows that sin carries a far greater penalty. That’s why he takes his accusations to God – not mere man.

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But once we’ve become a part of the glorious body of Christ, his accusations hold no weight at all. Jesus paid the price for every sin we’ve ever committed – or will ever commit. He’s even paid for the sins we thought about committing! His blood paid the price for all of it.

“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.”

Revelation 12:10 (NKJV)

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No matter how ugly our past was littered with sin, it’s time we walk in the new garments God has given us!

“The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”

Romans 13:12 (NKJV)

We are quick to criticize ourselves. “If God knew what I’ve done…” Guess what – He DOES know. And He’ll forgive it. All of it! Cast off those works of darkness. Put on His armor of Light!

When He hands you His Robe of Righteousness, put it on! It’s the Righteousness of Christ we put on – not our own. Our own righteousness can never be good enough.

God has the perfect size for you, because He’s perfected you in Christ. Now you can move freely!

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In Christ, every garment He gives us fits just right. Put them on!

By the way, your robe of Righteousness goes UNDER the armor of God. We can’t wield the Sword of God’s Word without right-standing with Him. 

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Whatever........

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“And now, dear brothers and sister, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” – Philippians 4:8 (New Living Translation)

The New Life Version says it this way, “Christian brothers, keep your minds thinking about whatever is true, whatever is respected, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever can be loved, and whatever is well thought of. If there is anything good and worth giving thanks for, think about these things.”

The New King James reads, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.”

No matter which version we pull up, Paul tells us to think on the good things. Yet, I catch myself allowing things that could never be good creeping into my mind. One of my favorites verses in scripture, one I lean on greatly, yet one I don’t live up to all the time. I wonder what my reality would look like if I thought only on good things!

This instructional list of adjectives includes:

True and honorable

Right and pure

Respected and lovely

Noble and just and admirable

How is it we find ourselves filling our minds with thoughts that are:

Gossip and destructive

Angry and hostile

Bitter and ugly

Worrisome and lying

Disgusting and hurtful

Sad and regretful

Jesus is coming back for a church that is without spot or wrinkle, a church that is watching and waiting for His return. How can we expect to produce the fruit of the Spirit of God if we’re weighed down with the negativity of that second list? God knew how powerful our minds are; He created them to be powerful! Paul no doubt learned from his own experiences, and could see how this wisdom from God was so vital for our lives to be filled with liberty and joy and power-filled. He shared it with us centuries ago, knowing that however many generations received his instructions, we’d all need them to thrive.

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If we read this scripture every single day and post it where we’ll see it and memorize it and teach it to our children and make up songs about it the job will be partly done. But, we also need to fill our minds with those good things. Constantly watching television programming that degrades our thoughts or listening to music filled with perversion and profanity and reading material that should make us blush and hope no one sees us won’t give our mind much of an opportunity to fill itself with positive things. Nor will rehearsing over and over again every failure we’ve suffered through or every hurtful thing done to us.

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It’s time to take inventory. Do we complain more than we give thanks? Do we curse when something upsets us? Do we find vulgarity entertaining? What kinds of images are stored in the hard-drive of our brain? It’s time for some reprogramming. It’s time to focus on the Word of God, for real. It’s time to focus on the things that glorify God and all that is good instead of what the world beckons us to accept as good.

“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” – Psalm 34:14 (KJV)

“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” – Romans 12:21 (KJV)

If you have an extra minute or two, read 2 Timothy chapter 3 for a description of what things will be like in the last days of life on this planet as we know it… Personally, I don’t think Paul is talking about the people around us that don’t believe in Jesus Christ as Savior, but to us – the church of Jesus Christ, His own body.

Yes, it’s a good start. Write out Philippians 4:8 (4:4-8 is GREAT) and put it where you’ll see it often to remind you. It’s such a good idea; I suggest you do it right now. Watch your mood change, too!

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