Read Zechariah 3:3-9 and 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
“The angel said to those who were standing before him, ‘Take off his filthy clothes.’ Then he said to Joshua, ‘See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.’” (Zechariah 3:4)
I must admit that as I write this devotion it is hard for me to see myself wearing anything other than a dirty outfit.
Too often I go throughout my day wearing my sin, my blemishes, imperfections, ways that I have pained people, and ways that people have pained me. Most days the weight of my life and decisions threatens to hold me down. It tethers me to a kingdom of the temporal maze, so that I run in circles. Perhaps you can relate?
Furthermore, I often wear the filth of this world. I wear the tension of maneuvering and tightrope-walking within a culture that celebrates self-sufficiency and hard-earned perfection in place of loving relationships. I wear the grief of tragedy upon tragedy not just in the US, but also overseas. Chinese subway attacks. Continued Japanese suicides. Terror attacks in Kenya. Continued conflict in Iran. It seems that both my person and my environment carry the atmosphere of things which I would hardly consider clean. To escape it, I would have to escape the world. Perhaps you can relate?
So, what can be done? When will a new garment be shown? When will a kingdom of order, justice, and righteousness come to be? When will love become the final say and ultimate law of our lands?
Praise be to our God and Father, praise be to our Lord and Savior, and praise be to the Comforter and Keeper! He has done it, and we can hold on to Him knowing that through Christ’s blood we are made citizens and ambassadors—the things of this world fall off of us when we are in His presence. In His presence, He reveals His New Kingdom and He brings out the rich garments to replace our filthy rags.
DIG DEEPER:
- What personal sins are you wearing today? What societal sins are you wearing? Confess these before your Father and gesture as though you were removing the filthy clothes, and putting on the Father’s rich garments.
- Why is it difficult to live every day in the rich garments the Father has given us?
written by Chris Kendl
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