The Clothes Make the Man - Part One

 I am one of those people who hears God in the middle of the night. There was a time before this time when I could write down what He was saying without leaving the comforts of my bed, for I kept a notebook and a pen near to hand. But over the last few years my beautiful penmanship has dwindled to an incomprehensible scrawl. Now I must either type it all up in here or forego the treasure of hearing God's voice. So I'm in here on the computer typing my treasures up.

As I began to fall asleep the Spirit began to stir my spirit. Mark Twain said "Clothes make the man", meaning how a person dresses determines his level of influence. Another quote I have heard is that "Man makes the clothes", meaning it is who you are on the inside that determines your actions on the outside. Both are right. 

In the sphere of Christianity it is Whom we are clothed with that determines our destiny. Romans 13:14 "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof." Romans 12 and 13 deal with Christian conduct, how we are to behave ourselves now that we are Christians; ending with Romans 13:14, reminding us to display outwardly the change which Christ has wrought inwardly. 

Galatians 3:27-29 tells us that having been baptized into Christ we are to put on Christ, because what once divided us in the world has no place in the body of Christ. 

Ephesians 4:24 "Put on the new man which God created in righteousness and true holiness."

Galatians 5:16 "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

We see, then, that we are clothed in the righteousness of God, Jesus Christ, through faith in the Word of God. We are also clothed in holiness through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, clothes not only make the man, or woman, but the changed man or woman is evidenced outwardly by what is happening inwardly. It is nothing we can do of ourselves either. Eventually, the facade  would deteriorate and who we really are would be self-evident to all. 

Only the divine power of God can change a person permanently. Only the divine power of God can eradicate who a person once was to become the person God knows them to be.