[Songs in the Night - October 16]
Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 13:14
OUR hearts are already consecrated to the Lord.
We are already adopted into his family by the begetting
of his Holy Spirit.
But our flesh is not perfect,
and it continues to love many of the garments of the
old nature, which we are to put off.
Gradually we are
to substitute the new clothing, the livery of heaven, by
which all may know us outwardly as well as know us
by profession to be children of God, brethren of Christ,
"heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ our
Lord."
Putting on the Lord Jesus is not the work of
a moment, nor of an hour, nor of a month, nor of a
year; it is the work of a lifetime.
But unless it be begun
it will never be completed.
And indeed we may
be sure that we can never fully put on Christ's characteristics.
However, the Lord will see our endeavor,
our strenuous fighting to put off the old nature, to put
off the works of the flesh and to be clothed with the
garments of righteousness, suitable to our relationship
to him—the livery, the clothing, that will make us
separate from the world sanctified to God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Z'09-151 R4402:3 (Hymn 82)