Dirty Clothes Again?

Bible Reading: Colossians 3:1-15

“Mom! Where are you?” called Finnley when she got home from school.

“Helping Ella with her bath,” answered Mom. Finnley ran upstairs. “Actually, we’re finished,” Mom said. “Ella

just needs to get dried off and dressed.”

Four-year-old Ella peeped out from behind the shower curtain. “Mommy, I want my red pants and flowered shirt.”

“But honey, you were wearing that before your bath, and it’s dirty,” said Mom. “You can wear this nice, clean yellow outfit.”

“I want the red one!” protested Ella, pouting. “It’s my bestest one!”

“But you’re clean now,” Finnley said, “so you have to wear clean clothes.”

“Exactly!” said Mom.

“Hey, that’s kinda like what Mrs. Richards said in my class at church yesterday,” said Finnley. “She talked about trusting in Jesus and taking off our old self and putting on a new one. I didn’t quite get it, but it’s like Ella needing to change her dirty old clothes for clean ones, right?”

Mom nodded. “Before we receive Jesus into our hearts, we’re like Ella before her bath—and you know what that’s like!” she said with a grin.

Finnley giggled as she pictured her little sister, clothes spattered with mud, face sticky and sweaty, arms and legs covered with dust and dirt. “I sure do! When we trust Jesus to save us from sin and forgive our wrongs, it’s like taking a bath and getting all cleaned up, right?”

“Yes, and after that, we must put away our dirty clothes—sinful actions like lying and cheating and attitudes of envy, anger, and pride. Sometimes we don’t want to do that. We cling to those things, like Ella clings to her favorite red outfit. But our old clothes—our old selves—are no longer fit to be part of our lives because Jesus

has made us new people. Sin isn’t a part of who we are anymore because Jesus has freed us from it.” Mom helped Ella slip into the yellow outfit. “We need to wear fresh, new clothes of kindness, humility, patience, and love that are appropriate for our new life in Christ.”

“I like this yellow outfit,” announced Ella suddenly. “I want to wear it all the time!”

-Tanya Ferdinandusz

How About You?

Have you trusted Jesus to forgive your sins and make you clean? If so, can others see that He has made you a new person? Or are you clinging to sinful habits that were part of your old way of life? Put sinful things like lying, greed, selfishness, and being unkind away and put on your new self. Clothe yourself in the love Jesus has given you so others can see that you belong to Him.

Today’s Key Verse:
2 Corinthians 5:17 Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (NLT)

Today’s Key Thought:

Live your new life