What Kind of T-Shirt Are You Wearing?
1
John 1:6-7 (TPT)
6 If we claim that we share life with Him, but keep
walking in the realm of darkness, we’re fooling ourselves and not living the
truth. 7 But if we keep living in the pure light that surrounds Him, we
share unbroken fellowship with
one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, continually cleanses us from
all sin.
Boy
isn’t it easy for us to lie and fool ourselves?!?! How many people are walking
around wearing a Christian T-shirt for everyone to see on the outside, but on
the inside, they are a big black, dark, empty hole?! When we seem to “claim”
things to others, but do differently in private, we are lying to ourselves about
being a follower of Jesus Christ. When we keep living in a way that fills us
and surrounds us in darkness, that too is a lie! Oh sure, we may have said the
sinner’s prayer and invited Jesus into our lives, but we are NOT living in that
truth of being saved from eternal separation from God! The thing is, there are
people in our life, that actually “see” the truth, and KNOW that we are not
living in it. They see us in a dingy or black T-Shirt, not a clean white one.
How
do they know? What is the difference? It is the light of Truth, the light of
Jesus. The enemy is really good at tripping us up by tempting us to sin. When
we sin, we step into the darkness and pull on that dingy shirt. When we confess
that sin to the Lord, He then brings us into His light in a fresh white shirt.
However, when we sin and do not confess it to God and ask for His forgiveness,
then we are actually pulled into the shadows a bit more. So, as you can
imagine, if it happens over and over – yup, we are pulled even further into the
darkness. Which means, we are not living in the truth, but a lie. Which by the
way, is the tricky way the enemy gets ahold of us – little by little until he
is the one that surrounds us.
The
flip side of this is the light! If we keep following Jesus, go to God when we
mess up and ask for forgiveness, and hang out with other people following Jesus
– then we are in His light! Realizing that we need to be cleansed continually by
our confessions and receive the forgiveness for our sins (which don’t stop and go
away) by the blood of Jesus – THEN we are walking in Truth and in His light. It
is truly like life, we keep growing and moving closer to Jesus by actually
getting to know Him, sit with Him, read His word, and hang out with others that
are doing the same thing. Then the BIG key: when we mess up and do something
that goes against His will, we go to Him and confess it – and He forgives us of
it – completely! However, that does not mean we won’t ever go down that path
again. It just means, that we will be able to “see” that path quicker, and
hopefully RUN from it next time ;-)
As
a “true” follower of Jesus, our T-Shirt doesn’t necessarily draw attention to
ourselves, but it is more like the very fabric of our being. The light shines
out through it like it was mesh. The warmth of our inner being gets shared with
others. Then when we gather together with other believers – WOW! It is like a
beam of light from a lighthouse – a spotlight from heaven, that is more
powerful because of shared lights joined together. LOL Kind of like superhero
powers joined forces ;-)
I
am praying that today, if you have been hiding behind a dingy T-Shirt of faith,
that you go to the washing machine of God and ask for forgiveness and be
cleansed and made clean! Then wear your white T-Shirt proudly! Be well, be
safe, be blessed!
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