If you are anything like me, you have a favorite clothing item that is old, forlorn or dated, but holds great value to you. It may have been a gift from a loved one, or a very expensive purchase, or is just so comfortable and relaxing that, like Charlie Brown’s buddy, Linus, and his famed blanket, you are unable to part with it. You may have had the item for such a long time that it is (literally!) in shreds and for the sake of your reputation, should really only be worn inside your home (and in some really sorry cases, the privacy of your bedroom!!). I have enjoyed several of such items, ranging from a decades old university sweatshirt from my late teens, to a couple of pairs of my favorite ripped jeans (NOT purchased ripped or because I was trying to be trendy!). These items were so worn down and out that they attained a unique level of “holeyness”, and not of the God or sacred kind! A couple of such items have faced dire threats of clothesnapping, incineration, and incarceration with or without extradition to unknown lands, and quite justifiably so!
Just as people resort to comfort foods to provide psychological solace during difficult and anxious times, and as Linus had his ever-trailing security blanket to succor his illustrious and demanding celebrity cartoon career as Charlie Brown‘s best friend, some of us resort to comfort clothes just to kick back and relax in the peace and quiet of our homes … never mind that such people may never be caught dead wearing sloppy clothing in public …
Bottoms Down!
Imagine yourself headed for the beach to meet up with friends on a beautiful, bright, summer day. It is the first day of a long awaited vacation and you are excited to begin your relaxation adventure. You grab your favorite comfort clothes – a pair of ancient shorts from your kindergarten years and a tattered t-shirt with frayed sleeves. You pull both on in a hurry, grab your car keys and sunshades and head out with pep in your steps. At the beach, you easily identify your group of friends by their sheer numbers, colorful clothing, and loud voices and music. In your excitement and anticipation, your brisk walk becomes a semi-jog in their direction as a waft of air from the tantalizing food on the grill reaches your nose. Your tummy begins to growl and your mouth waters in anticipation. You can almost taste those beef, fish and chicken tenders on the grill, alongside roasted bell peppers and corn on the cobb, all of which assault you with their scintillating aromas as you draw closer to your group. You spot a sub-group of your besties as they spot you, and now you are really pumped! As animated cheers, greetings and laughter are exchanged, you break into a full-fledged jog, too eager and ravenous to contain your pace any longer. Just as you’re about to close the final distance between you and the group, you notice a strange occurrence. All eyes facing your direction seem to be on you, or rather on something below your torso. At the same time, you realize your jog seems to be hampered by a piece of clothing rapidly making its way towards your ankles. As your brain registers this strange occurrence, a lightbulb come on. You realize the elastic on your shorts has given way and in your hurry to reach the party, you were unaware that they had begun to slide down silently. Time seems to stand still as your shorts find your ankles, every eye on the beach is trained on you in shock, and you try to brace yourself from the impending fall the twisted mess at your ankles and beleaguered feet are about to trigger. Your shell-shocked brain scrambles in vain to process, mitigate and obliterate the disaster.
Comfort Clothes
Many individuals figuratively hold on to the comfort clothes they have cherished for many years, often in the form of bad or potentially destructive habits, attitudes, mindsets and behaviors. These vices have formed a part of their mental construct for so long, and are so comfortable and familiar, that their presence is barely noticed, and these individuals can hardly envisage life without them. Many of these flaws may seem innocuous, benign or insignificant, but may house a silent and insidious breeding ground for certain disaster that may suddenly unravel like a house of cards, crumpling and falling rapidly and publicly at the least expected time. God warned Abel of this tendency when He noticed His bad attitude toward his offering, graciously telling him ahead of time, “…. Sin is lurking at your door, eager to get a grip on you. If you deal with it, you will master and subdue it, but if you do not, it will master and ruin you.”1
Beat up or fallen shorts are not a modern or recent phenomenon, indeed, they have been an ancient companion of man since his tragic downgrade in the Garden of Eden.2 Paul explains it against the backdrop of God’s standards in this way:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”3
God operates by certain codes of conduct and principles by which He does everything. These standards are His glory (defined as everything that accurately and completely captures and reflects His beauty, splendor, majesty, excellence, righteousness, holiness, greatness, magnificence, character, etc.). When man chose a lower standard of living by going the way of sin and satan, he ceded his status as God’s right-hand man and representative on earth, and all the perks and esteem (glory) that came with that natural endowment at creation. Because he sold his birthright to satan, he fell to level of the ordinary and common, and lost all of his spiritual ruling clout (authority) over satan and the unseen realm. This reduced him to mere a slave – of his appetites, sin’s tyranny, and satan’s task-mastery; the very antithesis of God’s glory. This degraded state was a far cry from the life of spiritual dominion, beauty and God-likeness he was created for; he had grossly fallen short of the glory of God.
Unfortunately, it gets worse. Paul goes on further to explain the consequences of that reduced state of sinfulness:
“The paycheck for a sin-centered life is death (a physical, spiritual and eternal separation from the beauty, benevolence and benefits that come from God and make life worthwhile)…”4
So every human was subjected to a degraded state of inglorious captivity and run-of-the-mill living, and were cut off from every God-possibility, sentenced to a bleak and hopeless future.5 The good news is – this all changed when Jesus died for humanity; He reversed man’s sentence of separation from God, his captivity, and restored him to his elevated status of God-likeness and dominion, with a renewed ability to enjoy His benefits and blessings.6
This is why it is such a travesty when a person who has received Jesus as Lord and Savior, having experienced a glorious rescue and reinstatement to the God-class of life, hangs on to the very vices and habits he was liberated from, refusing to acknowledge them as dangerous and detrimental, or to confess and renounce them as sin. Worse still, refusing to deal with them is dishonoring of and displeasing to the One he has supposedly made the Commanding Officer over his life – Jesus Christ. Habits and vices such as anger, malice, gossip, jealousy, narcissistic oppression, enabling evil of any kind, racial or gender prejudice, classism, pride, the use of foul language, pornography and other sexual aberrations, inordinate affections of any kind, addictions of all types (including to food, habits, etc.), a superiority complex, lying, stealing, etc., all fall into this inexhaustible list of risqué behaviors and thought patterns. Many may seem harmless and insignificant at surface level. Any repetitive pattern of thinking or behavior should be examined carefully to ensure it is not a future disaster lurking in the dark disguise of subtlety or feigned innocuity. Every known tendency must be identified and dealt with rapidly and ruthlessly, leaving no room for negotiation or lingering of any kind. This is the only way to deal with such propensities, given the deceptive and seductive nature of sin.7
Coming Out Of The Closet
Friend, have you cleaned out your spiritual closets recently, ensuring that there are no comfort clothes you have held onto that must be rid of? As comfortable and familiar as these clothes may feel, the holes and frays they contain may be cause indecent exposures of your person to the harsh environmental elements as well as to future disasters, so you must proactively work on throwing them out of your closet! Ensure that you are in an active and vibrant relationship with God through His Son Jesus, which will ensure the forgiveness of your sins. Beyond that, you must ensure that you walk daily with His Spirit, spending time in His Word, His presence (through worship) and in prayer, all of which act as cathartics to your spiritual system; cleaning you out and ensuring proper flow and optimal functioning. Additionally, be sensitive and responsive to the Holy Spirit when He points out areas in your life that are sinful or displeasing to Him, and act on those immediately. Ask Him to empower you in those areas such that your conduct and mindsets align with His.
If you grapple with or have difficulty in any area, search the Bible for Scriptures specific to those areas to memorize and to pray aloud over yourself. For extra traction and accountability, ask a trusted fellow follower of Jesus to pray with you regarding those areas of struggle.8 God is more than willing to help you overcome every weakness and will empower you to such an extent that you will help others overcome the same. Above all,
” … lay aside every weight and sin that so easily besets you, looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your Faith …”9
because
” … He is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, …”10
Royal Replacements/Ensemble
Dear reader, get rid of any impeding habits, vices, mindsets and behaviors that could cause great shame and disrepute in your future! Ensure that every anomalous habit, mindset and pattern of behavior is thoroughly dealt with as quickly and completely as possible. Jesus has made every provision for your proper and glorious clothing – He’s covered you with His rich robes of supreme royalty and right standing (favor) with God11 so you can face any situation with full confidence backed by His glory! With His royal ensemble in place, you will never have to worry about indecent exposure of any kind, for He has you covered spiritually, figuratively, and in every other way!
RESCUE YOUR FALLEN SHORTS!
Bibliography
- Genesis 4:7 ↩︎
- Genesis 3 (whole chapter) ↩︎
- Romans 3:23 ↩︎
- Romans 6:23 ↩︎
- Ephesians 2:12; Romans 5:12;14;17-21 ↩︎ ↩︎
- Galatians 4:4-7; Ephesians 1:18-21; 2:4-6; 19; Colossians 2:3 ↩︎
- Hebrews 3:13 ↩︎
- James 5:16-8; Matthew 18:19; Mark 11:24; John 14:13 ↩︎
- Hebrews 12:1-3 ↩︎
- Jude 24 (see also John 10:29-30; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Hebrews 13:20-21; 2 Timothy 4:18, etc.) ↩︎
- Isaiah 61:10; Ephesians 6:14 ↩︎