New Clothes for a New Day

This evil world can rub off on us and soil our spiritual clothing. Here’s what I’m learning about cleaning up and trying to stay clean before God.

I laughed to myself when I read this: “Lord, today I have not broken any of Your commandments; I have not treated my brother wrongly; and I have controlled my tongue. It has been a very good day. Now I can get out of bed.”

It took me back to a sermon that I heard in Florida before the Passover last year. The sermon was about putting off the old man and compared it to taking off your dirty clothes at the end of the day.

The new man

Each morning is the beginning of a new day, and we are fresh from a night’s rest to start over again. I start my day with fresh clothes, have my morning conversation with God in prayer and listen to Him speak as I read His Word, the Bible. I am clean as I go into the world.

Getting soiled

But once I start the car and turn on the radio, I begin to become corrupted by the world. Talk radio gives opinions, shows favoritism and is openly critical. Each local newscast contains several stories that show how mankind constantly breaks God’s 10 Commandments.

I drive the car to the commuter train; and once inside, I begin to hear the language, the gossip and sometimes very intense one-sided conversations from someone on a cell phone.

Turning on the computer at my desk each day brings a different set of circumstances, as I maneuver through corporate life, especially the recent announcements of layoffs of people that I have worked with throughout the years. A day of demanding phone calls and decision making that will affect people’s lives can leave me feeling dirty at the end of the day.

As we go through our day, we can be corrupted by the world. Jesus prayed to the Father: “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:15-16).

We are influenced by spoken words, the actions of others and the thoughts that are broadcast into our minds. We must be vigilant because our adversary roams around like a lion seeking whom he may devour. We find ourselves like the little clean child who goes out to play in the morning and returns home covered in dirt from head to toe.

The washing

God, our loving Father, has His own special soap to clean us from our daily adventures. I know it’s important to make the time throughout the day for prayer, reading the Bible (my daughter gave me a purse-sized Bible that I take with me each day) and meditating. Ephesians 5:26 tells us about Christ’s desire for His Church: “That He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.”

• The Bible gives us instant encouragement in various ways, including through encouraging Bible verses.
• Continual prayer keeps us in constant communication with the Father.
• Meditating helps us to move past what is going on at the present time and allows us to concentrate on the good things of God and His soon-coming Kingdom.

Putting off the old man

As we return home, like the little child covered in dirt from his activities outside, we have the opportunity to take off the dirty clothes that were soiled by the world and step into the shower or take that soothing, long, hot bath to send the dirt down the drain.

I like to end the day the way that I began it, by having another conversation with the Father, repenting of wrong, recommitting to the right and allowing Him to speak to me through His Word. This allows me to put my mind at rest because I know in a few hours I will have to wake up and start the process over again.

Rodney and Chant’a Collier attend the Atlanta, Georgia, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.

For more about changing our lives, see the “Change” section of the LifeHopeandTruth.com website.