Coats, Robes, and God

I really don't know why, but I don't especially relish the thought of winter coming. Perhaps it's the long, lazy days of summer, of the autumn's glorious splendor, but I don't really like it when I have to wear my thick winter coat outside. Not to say that I don't appreciate my coats; I really do! But I just don't like thick coats and winter cold.

This wonderful event of winter coming is happening about now. This past Wednesday my mother informed me that "jacket season" was over as I dashed from house to car carrying my jacket through the cold. So, trying to be a good teen, when I went to my church work this past Thursday I wore my coat. Of course, I didn't wear it inside the nice, warm, church, but when I worked outside the church my thick winter coat was very appreciated! I suppose I do not particularly wearing my thick winter coat; it's more the hard, excruciating process of putting my coat on and off! (and then when I'm having the most trouble putting my coat on, my 6-year-old sister gives me a suggestion...and it works! Little sisters aren't supposed to be that smart, right??)

I've been thinking about coats and winter cold lately. To survive in the cold you need a coat to keep you warm. It's essential. If we don't have a coat we're not going to have a happy ending. I think the idea of coats and cold can apply to the spiritual realm as well. We have to weather living in this harsh, cold, and miserable planet until Jesus comes and picks us up. To help us survive in this climate, Jesus has given us robes, robes of righteousness.

In Isaiah 61:10 Isaiah declares:



"I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness."

Isaiah had accepted God's robe, or coat of righteousness. Just like wearing my coat is essential to surviving the cold, to live spiritually we need God's coat of righteousness.

I think this coat idea could apply to many areas of our lives. Yeah, we may have God's coat, but do we put it on? He does not force anything on us. We may own a Bible, but do we read it? We may know about God, but do we have a relationship with Him? Do we know about or own God's coat of righteousness, but do we put it on and wear it?

Wearing God's coat is the only way we can survive in this sub-zero temperature world till Jesus comes one day very soon and warms us all over with His love.

Are you owning God's coat--or are you wearing it??