Clean Pajamas

Have you ever been sick? I don’t mean with the sniffles, or a little stomachache. I mean knock-down-high-fever-what-day-is-it-delusional-am-I-dying sick.

If you’ve ever experienced that kind of sickness, then you know how exhausting and confusing it is. You also know that most people wear the same pajamas for days on end during that kind of illness, because even thinking about changing them is exhausting.

But have you ever also experienced the bliss that is a hot shower and clean clothes after being so ill? It’s like you’re a whole new person. You’re winning the battle against the germs, your energy has boosted, your hair no longer looks like you stuck your finger in a light socket.

You almost feel and look human again!

And even though you’re better, you aren’t 100% well yet, and crave your pajamas again so you can snuggle back down in bed for some rest. (Hopefully after someone has changed your sheets!) Because sometimes getting better feels like hard work, and even a shower can make you tired.

But when you go to put those pajamas back on, they smell like the dump. Like, maybe you actually gag when trying to lift the shirt over your head. You have literally been wearing these for days, and been around your family smelling like this, and no one said anything?!? I’ve had pajamas that smelled like toxic waste when I was sick and had sweated through various fevers without changing them.

No way can I put these back on- I just had a shower! I don’t care how sick I am, I’ve gotta get some clean pjs!

This applies so clearly in a spiritual sense. We come to Christ with all our baggage, our sickness, things that need healing, and He cleanses us- makes it all whiter than snow. There is bliss at the feeling of being clean, like a whole new person! We have a renewed sense of purpose, we are energized because, hello, our sins are forgiven!

But we aren’t 100% better yet. We’re still spiritually sick- it’s just that Jesus has showered us with His grace and righteousness, so we’re more aware of the stench of our previous ‘pajamas’. And sometimes, even though we like smelling good, we get tired. Because getting better sometimes feels like hard work, and it would be so much easier to just put on the pajamas from a pile on the floor next to us, rather than going to find clean ones.

But Jesus has called us to walk in the Spirit, and put ON certain things while taking and keeping others OFF. And if we truly want to be better, we need to take His advice, and make changes that keep us from getting knocked down with spiritual sickness.

And it benefits us all if we will commit to gently reminding one another to go take a shower and put on clean pajamas when we get a whiff of the dump from each other. Because, let’s be honest, sometimes you just can’t smell yourself. Especially when the ‘pajamas’ you've been wearing are your favorite.

Thanks be to God who has cleansed me through the finished work of Christ on the cross!

Lord, help me to walk in righteousness, and put off the old man with his nasty pajamas that need not be picked up again, except to be thrown out and hauled away. Help me not to be lazy and reach for the old because getting clean feels like hard work. Thank You that in You I can do all things!

Romans 13:12-14
(12) The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
(13) Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
(14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Ephesians 4:21-29
(21) If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
(22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
(23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
(24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
(25) Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
(26) Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
(27) Neither give place to the devil.
(28) Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
(29) Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Colossians 3:8-15
(8) But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
(9) Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
(10) And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
(11) Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
(12) Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
(13) Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
(14) And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
(15) And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.