Clothing our bodies is a fascinating part of our life. We use clothes to feel attractive, express our personality and identify with other people. Clothing can also signify belonging to a certain group as seen by the uniform for pilots, doctors and others. The Bible uses the imagery of clothing to illustrate multiple aspects of our relationship with God. Here we consider just one.
Foremost, the imagery of clothing emphasizes our union with Christ which occurs when we return to God and become disciples of Christ. Paul talks about how we have put on Christ (Gal. 3:26-27). How exactly do we put on Christ? Thank God, putting on Christ is not a result of our efforts. We do not strive to become good or better in order to become attractive to God; no, certainly not. Putting on Christ is a work of the grace of God, which is our portion because of what Christ has done.
Imagine God reaching down to us at our level and clothing us with Christ. Isn’t that awesome? The sacrificial self-giving love of the Lord God creator of the universe reaches us. We are not ashamed of standing in the presence of a Holy God because we are now clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
We begin to experience the freedom when we realise that it is not works or karma that determines our acceptance and standing before God. Somewhere, hidden in the deep recesses of our heart might be a feeling of being good enough, but the Holy Spirit reminds us we are given the goodness of Christ. We are clothed with Christ.
Since we have worn Christ, it’s a joyful experience to know our identity and dignity is given to us freely by God’s grace. We all have equal standing before God through Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord with whom we are clothed. Every disciple has put on Christ by virtue of trusting in who Jesus is and what He has done for us. God be praised!