Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire. Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Colossians 3:9-10 (MSG)
My husband has lost over 100 pounds in the last few years. Throughout those months we began to notice that his clothes weren't the right fit anymore. They were made for the body he used to have, not the one he was beginning to have. And now NOTHING fits -- not even the underclothes. Since we haven't been able to fully replace the wardrobe, he keeps wearing many of the things he always has and sometimes looks like a child wearing hand-me-downs, several sizes too big.
The Scriptures remind us that we too are changing as we mature in our faith. The ways we used to act or talk or think no longer fit the person we are becoming. And yet often we keep 'wearing' the same 'garments' that we did before we were changed -- but now they are 'ill-fitting.' They belonged to another person and another era.
Further, we are told that the old garments are not only are ill-fitting and outdated, but they are filthy. Scripture instructs us not to give them away, but instead they are to be burned, so no one else is subject to them. And in their place we are given new garments -- not the store-bought kind, but custom made by the master tailor for our unique new natures.
Related previous blog: The perfect fit
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