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Some people (often single males) rely on the “sniff test” to ascertain whether their clothes are clean enough to wear.
According to Reader’s Digest, 70 percent of the soil on your clothing is invisible.
Your clothes may look clean, but they still need to be washed.
Praise the Lord! We pass the sniff test because of Jesus Christ!
We were soiled by sin, but we have been washed by the His blood.
His perfect sacrifice provided a “once for all” cleansing.
This transforming power of Christ’s once for all forgiveness is compared to a change of clothes in Colossians 3:9-10:
“you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self.”
When we trusted Christ as our Savior, He stripped off our Old Self, and He dressed us in the New Self.
We are not just forgiven and cleansed, but we are completely transformed in our human spirit.
Our old dead human spirit (Old Self) was crucified with Christ and buried with Christ.
Then, we were raised with Christ with a brand new human spirit (New Self) which is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
The moment we trusted in Christ, we were clothed in His righteousness!
Let’s apply this to our daily lives.
What is already true in our human spirit, needs to be applied to our human soul by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The soul is our mind, will and emotions.
We are to understand with our mind the truth that we had died with Christ, we were buried with Him, raised and ascended with Him.
Then, we are to choose by faith with our will to completely rely on the Holy Spirit to reproduce Christ Life through us.
Romans 8:12-13 puts it this way:
“Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your flesh urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your flesh you will live.”
The idea is that if we choose to live by the flesh, we will not produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Christ Life).
But, if we choose to live by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will have victory and bear fruit in our lives.
This in turn will bring our human emotions in line with truth as well.
Every time we change our clothes, let’s remember this lesson.
Since we received His righteousness and He changed us out of our old clothes (Old Self) and dressed us in our new clothes (New Self), we can make a daily choice to live in its power.
So it’s off with the old and on with the new!
Blessings!
Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries