Wear the New

Colossians 3:1-2 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 
 
WHAT would it be like if you purchased a new set of clothes but didn’t wear them? You’d miss out on the benefit of the new, wouldn’t you? Your purpose for getting new clothes would become useless, and your physical appearance and perhaps comfort would remain unchanged.
    Now, what would happen if you confessed Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but you failed to “wear” his salvation? Instead, you kept your mind on the worldly things that keep you from Jesus’ forgiveness, mercy, joy and love? What would happen if you continued to prefer your old ways to Jesus, who is the Way? Your purpose for receiving Jesus would become useless, wouldn’t it?
    When you confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, he sends the Spirit to clothe you anew in his truth. See the promise in Isaiah 42:6 “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles.”  Celebrate! You are new in Christ!
    This was Paul’s experience and it is every Christian’s experience. Paul, a true messenger for Jesus, urged the Colossians to turn their hearts to the Lord, to clothe their new life with Jesus. After all, from the right hand of God, Jesus has the power, truth and authority to change lives. To confess him, then ignore him would be to mock his death, resurrection and ascension – the means for your new life. To put on the new life is to seek and to obey him, to honor and to worship the resurrected King. His life-changing gifts are for your use each day. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:4)
    As you are saved, the Holy Spirit has raised you from sin’s deadly pit into heaven’s glory. Put on the new life. Wear Jesus with joy as the Lord God your new life each day.   
 
Life Thought: If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)