Put Him On

Last week, during our Wednesday night Youth Devotion, my husband read 1 Thessalonians 5:8.

“But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”

  I know I have seen that scripture many times before, but this time two little words JUMPED OUT at me.

“putting on”

I began to ponder the meaning of that phrase “put on”.  If you have to “put something on” that means you were not born with it or it wasn’t originally a part of you. For example:  We have to put on clothes, because we are born naked.  Look at Mr. Potato Head (silly example, but effective).  When you open the package…he is just a potato.  You have to “put on” everything else. 

So I began the journey of figuring out the “putting on”.

 

Why would we need to “put on” FAITH?  Aren’t we born with it?  Not according to Paul in Romans 10:17 – “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  How can we have faith in something we have never even HEARD about?  We must read the word of God and we must hear it preached in order to have faith.  We have to PUT IT ON. 

What about LOVE?  Surely we are born with that.  But Paul speaks of our true nature in Galatians 5:19-21 – “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” Our sin nature that we are born with does not include love.     We have to PUT IT ON.

 

And SALVATION…We are definitely not born with that.  Act 4:12 tells us – “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Of course this is referring to Jesus.  John 3:17-18 – “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” We have to PUT IT ON.

Why do people struggle so much with their faith?  Why is it so hard for them to love others?  Why do people question their salvation…or deny that they even need salvation?  Because these things are not natural within ourselves: We were not born with the capability to understand them.  We were not born with peace, joy, hope, or self-control either. 

We have to PUT THESE THINGS ON.

Galatians 5:16-17  – “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

 They are not in us.  They are only found in Christ.

Galatians 5:22-24  – “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There is no law against these things!  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.”

Are you struggling?  PUT HIM ON  Are you weary?  PUT HIM ON

  Are you worried?  PUT HIM ON  Are you distressed?  PUT HIM ON

 Are you weak?  PUT HIM ON  Are you lost?  PUT HIM ON

“You say… ‘I have everything I want. I don't need a thing!’  And you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”  Revelation 3:17

“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”  Romans 13:14

We have to put HIM on.