Put On part 1
I'm not trying to put you on. I'm trying to get you to see that we have already been given everything we need, and all we have to do is put it on. Look at Colossians 3:9-10, "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." Now let me start at the end. We HAVE put off the old man. We HAVE put on the new man. This isn't something that needs to happen. This is what happened on the cross. This is what happened when God conformed us to the image of His Son. When Jesus was lifted up from the earth and drew all men into Himself. When Jesus planted all men in Him. This is the truth--the ultimate truth of the universe that God is love and He loves you. Not because of what you do, but because of who you are. Because of who HE is. So lying to one another, really, is sinning. Because sin is unbelief. Telling each other (or ourselves) that God doesn't love us unless. Telling each other (or ourselves) that we have to do in order to be. And those are the old man's deeds, by the way: trying to earn God's love and acceptance through works and labor. Works don't work. You can't earn a gift. If you have to earn it, its not love. Love is freely given and must be received. Received and released. And I've long said the best (perhaps only) way to receive God's love is to release it. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So if you love someone... that means, on some level, you believe God loves you. And the more you show, the more it will grow. Love feeds on love and grows and grows like a Holy Ghost wildfire. Point being--we have what we need. We have been blessed with all Spiritual blessings. We have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. We don't need anything. God wanted us to have it all so He gave it to us. God wanted the best for us so He gave the best to us. He gave us His only begotten Son. He gave us Jesus. He gave us His Spirit. His heart. Himself. And while we have already put on the New Man... well, let me say this: The phrase "have put on" in Colossians 3:10 is number 1746 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "in the sense of sinking into a garment." Basically, putting on what we've put on. Getting comfortable in it. You know that pair of pants that you absolutely love because you've had them for so long and they fit just right? They're almost like a second skin. Like you're not even wearing anything extra. Its just so natural. That's what maturity is. Knowing who we are--who we really are, which is who we are in Christ, which is who Christ is in us. So, again, we don't NEED to put anything on. We simply need to get comfortable with what we have on. It needs to become second nature. No, it needs to become OUR nature. Period. Our new (true) nature. The love nature. GOD put it on us. That happened. We have it. We don't need it. So let's start enjoying what we have. Let's start getting comfortable with who we are and start being who we are!