No Tape Measure Needed

[soso]

No Tape Measure Needed
KIM MCGOVERN, COMPEL Member

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“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Galatians 3:27 (NIV)

There is nothing quite like clothing to bring a grown woman to her knees. A simple closet-moving project had left me on the ground, clutching a cold metal tape measure to my chest.

I was in the middle of moving to a much smaller house with the tiniest closet I had ever seen. Measuring exactly how many inches — not feet, not yards, but how many inches — of clothing would help determine what I could bring.

It was impossible. No way could I part with so much and live with so little! I had survived a long season of unexpected changes that had rocked my world, and I wasn't giving up anything else.

Staring at the tape measure in my trembling hands, it was clear something more than a closet needed tending. What needed tending was the closet of my heart. On that day, I had pulled from it a favorite piece of clothing — my robe of certainty. I wrapped myself in it and refused to take it off.

I craved certainty. Its pursuit captivated me. I looked for it in my health, finances, marriage, occupation and future. All had proven to be unsteady ground. I clung to anything that would give me a sense of stability and calm my fearful heart.

Jesus met me in the darkness of this obsession. He assured me this uncertainty I was wrestling against was an unexpected gift from Him. A gift meant to drive me deeper into His love.

My affections were set on things that were never meant to carry the weight of my ever-changing story. Certainty would never free me from the fear of the unknown. Only knowing He was with me in it ever would.

Being a follower of Jesus means being clothed in Him. Paul says in Galatians 3:27, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

This being “clothed in Christ” is more than covering over misery and uncertainty. Being clothed in Christ is an expulsive power. I needed what Scottish minister Thomas Chalmers called the “expulsive power of a new affection.” The worthless idol of certainty to which I was clinging could only be removed by the love of Jesus.

The word for “to clothe” in the Greek is enduo. It means “to sink into, as a garment.” Jesus was calling me to let go of worthless things and sink deep into His garment of love and find rest. And that is exactly what I did.

I don’t know what’s in your closet, but I do know being clothed in Christ means being wrapped in an unmeasurable garment of His love — no tape measure needed. He is always there to sink deep into and His garment of love and rest — even in dark and uncertain places.

May your heart be sparked with overflowing joy as you live wrapped in the only piece of clothing you will ever need — the love of Christ.

Lord, forgive me for clinging to things that were never meant to give me rest. Thank You for always showing up in my mess with Your uninterrupted love for me. Grant me eyes to see and a heart that believes Your love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.