Remember the last time you were feeling particularly uncomfortable about yourself? Maybe it was something you did or said. Or just "one of those days" when there seemed to be something about you that just wasn't right. Your body language said, ''I'm a mess." And anyone who cared to notice would have easily known you were not a happy camper.
Let's say that unexpectedly, you ran into a good friend. The first thing she said was, "I have always loved that dress. It makes you look just terrific!" Terrific? Me? Her words, so full of friendship, made you stand a little taller. She was happy to see you. Just being with her made you feel better . . . and when you walked on, your mood and your day had changed.
God is like that friend. Grace is the dress that makes you "look terrific." You cannot put on that dress unless you choose to go into your closet and take it from the hanger. Slip it on. And go out into the world clothed in grace. We've been in the dark places. We've worn the shabby, torn garments of sin. And then one day, a package arrived – Special Delivery! For me? You tore into it and there it was . . . the most beautiful garment you've ever seen. Just exactly your size. Perfect for you in every way. The enclosed card said . . . Paid in full. Nothing is due. I love you, God.
THAT is grace. It's tailor-made just for you. It covers all of your sinful "lumps and bumps" – and you have never felt or looked as good. There is no other one like it: it is yours. Each day it is renewed . . . as fresh as the day it arrived. Clothed in its beauty, you walk continuously in grace. Forgiven completely. The rag-tag garments of sin no longer are stuffed into the dark recesses of your closet.
If you are tempted to buy something 'On Sale' . . . you only need to think of how it will look hanging next to the "garment of grace."
Like me, do you keep far too many things that no longer fit? What keeps us from tossing them away? Could we be thinking that one day we might want to put them on again? Oh, I hope not.
Note to self: Today, clean closet!
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