A full wardrobe

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Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust. (2 Peter 1:4 MSG)

I have heard Christians say they don't have what it takes to live a righteous life. They bemoan the issues they still have with temptation and then when compromise inevitably hits them full in the face, they seem to say, "I told you so!" It is as though they forget these words of truth - EVERYTHING that goes into a life of pleasing God HAS BEEN given to us. There is NOTHING we haven't been given already. Maybe we just haven't PUT ON what it is we are already provided!

To illustrate this point, consider your closet or chest of drawers for a moment. How many shirts do you have in the closet? Just a ball park number will do - you don't really have to go count them. Then consider how many pair of socks you have in your drawer. How many pairs of pants are in your closet? Are some blue, others black, and maybe some even brown? You have a variety of stuff to wear don't you? Yet, how many mornings do you stand in front of those clothes and mentally declare you don't have anything to wear?

It isn't the lack of clothing that is the issue, it is the desire to put on what you have at your disposal! You have lots of clothes - you choose to see 'no choice' within the closet. You don't have a lack of anything - everything you need is right there in front of you. You are just choosing not to wear any of it! Everything we need to live godly and upright lives is right there in front of us - we choose to not put it on and then complain we don't have what we need!

The majority of us will choose an outfit from the closet for the day - not too many of us choose to just walk around naked! We might go to some particular pair of pants, socks, and shirt more than others - because they are comfortable for us and we are familiar with how they fit, make us feel, and how others see us in them. Similarly, we are content to go to certain things Christ has provided for our walk with him very frequently, but there are others we shy away from because we don't know how they will 'fit' our lives, or how others will see us 'within' them.

Sometimes the outfit I feel the least comfortable wearing is the one I get the most compliments on! The level of comfort we have 'wearing' what God gives us isn't always the determining factor of how well it 'fits' us. It could just be that thing God has been asking you to 'put on' in your life is the very thing that will bring out some element of grace and beauty that has been hidden until you do! Just sayin!

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