Thought for March 6, 2024

  •  1836: Battle of the Alamo ends after 13 days--William Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett die
  • 1853: Verdi's "La Traviata" premiers
  • 1857: Supreme Court issues the Dred Scott decision--Africans cannot be U.S. citizens
  • 1869: Mendeleev presents first periodic table of elements to the Russian Chemical Society
  • 1899: Aspirin patented by employee of the Bayer Company in Germany
  • 1921: Police in Sunbury PA issue law that women's skirt must be 4 inches below the knee
  • 1964: Cassius Clay becomes Muhammad Ali
  • 1981: Walter Cronkite signs off
  • 2018: A message in a bottle thrown from the ship "Paula" in 1886 is found in Western Australia
  • Born: Michelangelo, Casimir Pulaski, Lou Costello, Shaquille O'Neal
  • Died: Gotlieb Daimler, John Philip Sousa, Georgia O'Keeffe, Kirby Puckett
Thought:
Yesterday, we were putting off the old self. Today, Paul tells us to put on the new self. [3:10-17]We start with the same refrain--if I have been raised with Christ:
  • Keep/continually renewing yourself in Christ [3:10] If I am not constantly putting off the old and putting on the new, the old will take over. If I don't walk every day, within a few days I walk with difficulty. If I don't read and pray daily, soon I revert to my old ways. Romans 12:1-2 tells us we are transformed by renewing our minds--daily conforming my mind to His through prayer and His word. So, if I have been raised with Christ, I will be diligent to renew myself daily.
  • Acting like I am chosen, holy and beloved--if I have been raised with Christ, God tells me I am chosen, holy and beloved in Him. Satan tells me I am not. So I must daily affirm that God loves me and paid a price for me--so my worth is not determined by human praise or acceptance, but by the price that was paid. So as Paul says in Galatians 1:10, if I am still trying to please men, I am not a bond-servant of Jesus--because He is the one I try and please.
  • Putting on a heart of compassion. We share each others joys and bear each others burdens. Like all of these traits, I must put them on or allow the Holy Spirit to express them through me. 
  • Putting on kindness. This is not just being nice. "Kind" here refers to a type--those people are not your kind. Put on those attributes that confirm that you are His kind. We have the saying about ducks--if he walks, quacks, waddles, swims like a duck, it must be a duck. If we walk and talk and act like Jesus, we have put on His kind.
  • Putting on humility. We recognize who He is and who we are. We recognize that others are made in His image and that He died for them. We put away all arrogance and pride--life is about Him and not about me. God humbles the proud but exalts the humble at just the right time.
  • Putting on gentleness. This is not just being gentle in word and deed. It is about being noble, fine born. This is where we get the word “gentile.” Acting like the king was your father, for the King is your father if you have been raised with Christ. We can be recognized as being the sons of God and joint heirs with Christ.
  • Putting on patience [a problem for Larry]. God is so amazingly patient with me. My life should reflect that in how I relate to others. And I should wait patiently for Him--to speak, to direct, to answer, to return.
  • Putting on forgiveness. Understanding that when I confess and God forgives, He remembers it no more. Do not allow Satan to use my past failures to guilt me today. And forgiving others as Christ has forgiven me. 
  • Putting on love. I think Paul should have started here. Put on love, be filled with love, be an instrument of love, be a conduit of love. 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that the greatest of these is love because without love, all the other putting on doesn't really matter. And it takes love to put on all these things. 
Quite an assignment. For several years, I made it a habit of intentionally putting on the armor of God every day. And I need to to be ready for the battle that lies ahead. But I don't just need the armor, I need to put on Christ--and that's what all these traits and characteristics really are--putting on the mind and actions of Christ every day. 

Lord, help us dress for the day ahead.
Blessings
Larry

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