Adequate Clothes

Laying aside my efforts

For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. ~ Galatians 5:4

Now listen, Enemy, when you tempt me to turn to works—to my own efforts to win the Lord’s approval—I shall proclaim:

Let that raggedy, cobbled-together, soiled, attempt-at-goodness garment fly away in the wind! I happily discard its unwieldy discomfort and secret smelliness—despite the amount of disguising perfume spritzed—a garment so threadbare and full of holes it leaves me pathetically exposed.

Instead, when tempted to go shopping for clothes in the “good works department,” I will look in the mirror of my Lord’s eyes, who sees me radiant in His pure white robe of righteousness. This garment will never tear, soil, or wear out.

All He is—is mine. Therefore, from the standpoint of daily living, I get to wear what He lays out for me. These clothes meet the needs of the moment—His shawl of love, His dress of peace, His vibrantly colored robe of joy . . .

Stripped of the weight of my own efforts—what a carefree, blessed way of living!

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.