Today’s reading is Romans 13:1-14:23.

“The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:12-14).

I needed to read this today. Thank you, God, for the reminder. Some days are harder than others. Some days are fraught with temptation. Today is one of those days for me. I needed this reminder that my job today is not to make provision for the lusts of my flesh. Today, I need to put on Jesus Christ. I need to wear Him like clothing, like armor of light. I need to surrender the works of darkness that are tempting me to Him. I need to throw them away from me and just let Him guide me into the next right thing.

As Galatians 2:20 says, I need to let Jesus live in me today. I need to work on increasing my faith in Him today. I need to understand that pursuing orgies, drunkenness, immorality, sensuality, quarreling, jealousy, et al, will not draw me closer to God, but drive a wedge between us. These will not make me the man I want to be but will lead me further down a path of guilt, shame, and slavery.

Today, I’m going to wear Jesus.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. An the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

–Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

Being a Christian does not just equal a moment of faith and then I get to do what I want. It doesn’t even equal being baptized and then trying to make it “to church” regularly. Really living as a Christian means living like Christ.

In this passage, it presents the picture of being crucified with Jesus. It calls to mind the teaching we read in Romans 12:1, which said we should be living sacrifices. This is about sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, we should sacrifice ourselves for Him.

This is a picture of total surrender. Instead of fighting against Jesus, trying to go our own way and do our own thing, we simply do what Jesus wants. We act as though He is the conquering King who has the right to tell us how to live.

Allow me to give another picture of surrendering to Christ and sacrificing ourselves for Him. Too often, we view this as trying to be obedient enough to go to heaven. We sometimes think we are trying to measure up and check off the list in enough ways to make the grade so we can get into heaven.

Let me share an illustration. Once, I went white water rafting. The first thing the guide said was that we had to listen to her absolutely. If she said paddle, we had to paddle. If she said lean right, we had to lean right. If she said get in the bottom of the boat, we needed to get into the bottom of the boat. Why did we do what she said? Did we do that because we were trying to measure up? Did we think if we obeyed her enough we would be good enough and therefore not fall in the water? No. We recognized that she knew what she was doing. Her way would work. Therefore, we surrendered our will to hers. Sometimes I was tired and didn’t want to paddle, but she said paddle, so we did. Sometimes it seemed to us that we needed to lean left, but she said lean right. So we leaned right. Sometimes, we wanted to ride high, but she said get down in the boat. We got down in the boat. Sometimes, we didn’t know which way to hit the rapids, so we just paddled the direction she said. She was the guide. We surrendered to her direction.

That is what Jesus wants us to do. He wants us to realize He is the guide and His way works. Even when we can’t see how or where His way is leading, we need to simply surrender to His direction. 

What is Jesus saying to us today through His word? Let’s just do it, surrendering to Him because His way really does work.

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC