Clothed part 2
I try not to do this very often, but I have a decent sized passage of Scripture I want to use for tonight. Bear with me. 2 Corinthians 5:1-5, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Not he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." Clearly there's a lot there. But here's what grabbed me: Yesterday I opened this Rant series talking about how God clothed us with Himself. With Lamb skin. I think this passage takes that even to another level. Perhaps the obvious conclusion, but one that we don't always seem to get to. When God clothed us with Himself... He clothed us with... life. Because He IS our life. LOVE is our life. To live is to love and to love is to live. If our earthly tabernacle were dissolved... we would still have--we would still BE--the house of God. The church. The dwelling place of the God who is love. The God who is life. Being clothed with Him we are not found naked. Being clothed in Him our mortality is swallowed up with life. Let me say it like this: God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. God is life and in Him is no death at all. When we are clothed in Him--and I think tomorrow I'm going to focus on what it means to clothe ourselves in Him, since we are already clothed in Him--we will never be "found naked." In a negative sense. We don't have to be ashamed of our nakedness, our vulnerability, our openness. We don't have to be ashamed to be who we are. That's not what being "found naked" is about. That's more like the story in Genesis chapter 9 when Noah's sons found him drunk and naked. When we're clothed with God--with love, with life--we will never be found that way. We will be able to be naked and NOT ashamed. When we're clothed with God... we're covered by God! Your heavenly Father has your back. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He will keep you from falling. He has given us the earnest of His Spirit. Given us everything we need in order to get through what we need to go through. And then to help others get through what we've been through. That's what it means to be blessed to be a blessing, right? Receiving and releasing what we've been given. Knowing that we've been clothed... so we can clothe others. We're covered... so we can cover others. OUR mortality is swallowed up in life... so we can help others live! That's the whole point of this whole thing. Not just what God has done for me, but what I can do for other people BECAUSE of what God has done for me. Letting what's inside come out so that other people can experience that same love of God that I experience on a daily basis. Receiving and releasing. Giving what you've got. Sharing what you have and who you are. Living and loving. Living BY loving!