Jeans

I get my jeans dirty every time I wear them, because of the kind of work I do when I've got them on. So I wash them. And get them dirty again. I could keep them folded up in a drawer. But jeans are made for wearing, not hiding.

Once we accept the salvation God has for us (Romans 6:23 says "the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord") -- which is includes being washed clean -- can we just 'fold up and stay in the drawer'? Avoiding everything outside of our own house, or our own little circle, could help avoid sin, I suppose -- although sin will creep in as long as we're human.

Jesus gave us a job in Matthew 28:19-20: "go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you." So we can't just sit around being holy. There's life to be lived, and work to be done. Jesus also wants us growing, "measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). And Paul was as serious as a mother in labor, to make sure the church was a group with "Christ...fully developed in your lives" (Gal. 4:19).

Being disciples of Jesus means getting 'out of the drawer and into the world', which can be messy sometimes. But we grow as we go, and go as we grow.

We 'measure up to Christ' in several ways. As we learn to love other people (who have sinned just like us) and help them find the same forgiveness we've found in Christ. As we learn to help one another grow, encouraging each other by Christian company, studying God's word together and being corrected by it. As we struggle through prayer, and learn to surrender our cares and our wrong desires to God. As we recognize our ongoing sins and go back to God, asking his forgiveness and accepting it. As we learn to ask forgiveness of each other, and give it freely too. As we teach others the ways of Christ (that's 'making disciples', like he said).

That's what the church (all of us, together) is to be doing. But unlike jeans, which get torn, dirty and trashed, we get to improve: 'And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.' (2 Cor 3:18) So let's be doing both -- growing, and going.