Scott Jasmin

Are you wearing someone else’s pants?

Posted by yourfriendjaz on November 26, 2011

This past weekend, I traveled to Minneapolis to be a guest worship leader at my friend’s church. As I got ready, I packed (or so I thought) my comfy brown sweater with my new pair of Levi’s. On Sunday morning, I got up, took a shower, then opened my suitcase and pulled out a pair of… shorts.

I was incredulous! I couldn’t believe that I was 100 miles from home at 6:30 in the morning and I didn’t have pants! And I had to lead worship in about three and a half hours! So I decided to head across town to the church and look for an open store along the way. As I drove, I remembered that my brother Paul lives nearby. And not only that, but he wears a similar pants size to boot!

So I dialed him up (it’s 7:30 by this time) and asked if I could swing by on my way to the church and borrow a pair of pants. He said “sure,” so I headed to his place, where he outfitted me with a sweet pair of Eddie Bauer brown corduroys. They looked good with my brown sweater and they were a good fit, so I thanked him and wore them as I led worship. But as I stood on stage leading the opening song, I couldn’t get past the fact that I was wearing someone else’s pants! I stood there feeling rather fashion-awkward, and it occurred to me that there was a spiritual analogy here…

You see, I was wearing someone else’s pants… pants I had not intended to wear… pants that were not meant for me.

And then it occurred to me. How many times do we end up wearing spiritual “clothing” that we never intended to wear? …clothing that was not meant for us?

Trauma, sin, and circumstances beyond our control leave us reaching into our spiritual “luggage,” only to realize that the “outfit” we had intended to wear (the life we had intended to live) simply isn’t an option for us anymore. Instead, we end up wearing “outfits” we never intended (nor were created) to wear. Shame, fear, depression, anxiety: these “outfits” are not God’s design.

“Assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as [all] Truth is in Jesus [embodied and personified in Him], strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], and put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.” –Ephesians 4:21-24, Amplified Bible.

We were not intended to wear some old, torn, dirty, borrowed, stained, ill-fitting life. It is God’s will for our lives to be new, whole, pure, specially-designed, untainted and custom-tailored. It is God’s will for us to put on Christ.

What about you? Have you been living a hand-me-down life? Are you weighed down by Shame, fear, depression or anxiety? Do you wonder how your life ended up being what it is?

Take heart. There is hope in Jesus Christ. He is the Life that God intends for you to wear!

“But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!” –Romans 13″11-14, The Message.