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Swaddling Clothes
by Jerry Ousley I've got this old pair of pajamas (we call them PJ's). I like wearing them this time of year because they're light and not too hot at night. My wife has been after me to throw them away because right down the side of the leg they are ripped out. "But they are so comfortable," I argue. Isn't it funny how we get attached to an old garment that we just love wearing and hate to get rid of? At one point in my life I had this strap shirt that I always put on when I had outside work to do in the summertime. It was stretched, faded to a dull orange, and, well frankly it was ugly. But it was so comfortable I just refused to part with it. But one day it came up missing. Debbie had caught me away from home and had promptly gotten rid of it. I missed that old shirt but after a time of withdrawal symptoms, I got over it. The Bible tells us that after Jesus was born, Mary placed Him in the manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. We often think of swaddling clothes as being old rags and have pitied our Lord for having only cast off rags to wear. However, a careful review of the history of that day reveals that it was common practice to wrap newborns in strips of cloth know as swaddling clothes. However, we must remember that Mary and Joseph was a poor pair and given the situation of being away from home, they had to make do with what they had, and so I believe that the swaddling clothes worn by our Savior were indeed make shift. If this was the case then our Lord came into this world dressed in rags and He died on Calvary either in a ragged loin cloth or worse yet, naked. He was the King of kings. He was God in the flesh. Yet He stooped, casting off royal robes and adorning the dress of the poor just to give us eternal life. He paid the price. Later on the scripture speaks of believers wearing a robe of righteousness. It is a very fine robe. It is one that we are given. We can't earn it. We can't buy it. We must be given it by Jesus. We only get it by coming into His kingdom by way of salvation. It is the required uniform of Heaven. When I was in the US Army we had three different uniforms to wear. But we couldn't just pick whichever one we wanted. We were told what the uniform of the day was. If a soldier showed up in the wrong uniform he or she was in big trouble, let me tell you. A soldier was required to wear the hat that matched whatever the uniform of the day was when outdoors. The particular base where I was stationed was one of the few that required Army personnel to have a set of dress blues. There was just one problem; they didn't have a hat that fit me so my dress blue uniform was incomplete. This meant that I was restricted to indoor activity when using dress blues. There were a few occasions that my duty took me outdoors when wearing the dress blue uniform and I always had to point accusers to my staff sergeant for an explanation because I was out of uniform. Jesus told a story about a wedding feast. The original invited guests refused to come, so in anger the king had his servants fill the banquet hall with people taken from the highways and byways. It was a grand occasion but one that required a wedding garment. One showed up without this required uniform and he was duly cast out because of it. Our required uniform is the robe of righteousness. We can't show up at the marriage supper of the Lamb without it. Again, there is only one way to get it; through the accepted grace of Jesus Christ. So I ask you today; this Christmas are you dressed in the robe of righteousness? If not, you can be, but only by accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior. He wore the swaddling clothes so that you could have this fine, magnificent robe. Will you make His sacrifice to be in vain? Accept Him today. Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |