Spring Fashion

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Tonight my growth group begins a series of studies on the fruit of the Spirit, the God qualities that He wants to develop in believers. But if we hope to make room for the character of God in our lives, we have to clean out the closet and get rid of the old stuff. Ephesians 4:24 tells us: "You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self…and to put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

As I read Numbers 33 this morning I was reminded of the Old Testament illustration of the New Testament instruction.

Moses had come to the end of his journey. The children of Israel were soon to enter into the land that God had promised them. Moses reviewed the past with the people he had led for so long and gave them this instruction: "When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have give you the land to possess…But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live" (Numbers 33:51-53, 55, NIV).

That was exactly what happened. Those pockets of resistance that the Israelites did not uproot would come back to cause them great grief in the future. And so it is with the "junk" that we allow to remain in our spiritual lives. The old habits, sins, attitudes of our lives before we knew Christ that we don't constantly seek to replace with God qualities like love, joy, peace, patience… will haunt us, trip us up, and prevent us from moving forward in our spiritual journeys.

Parts of the old life are hard to get rid of. My family comes from farming stock. When they came to Canada as settlers they had to clear the land of stones before they could plant a crop. They soon discovered that every Spring the frost would push up more stones so that every Spring they would have to go back into the fields and "harvest" the rocks before they could plant.

But if you want a harvest, you have to remove the stones—even if you have to do that over and over again. Otherwise you have trouble.

The lesson from Numbers is obvious. The lesson from life equally so. The reminder from Paul to "put off" so that other things can be "put on" touches us all.

What will you be wearing today?