This weekend, kids young and old alike all around the country will be dressing up in costumes and hitting the neighborhoods on a mission to accumulate bags full of candy. It is a much beloved holiday for many to celebrate. I remember doing the same as a kid. 

 Having the perfect costume was essential. For a few hours on that last night of October, we took on the appearance of our favorite character, be it a pirate, or a hobo, or a mummy or Batman, etc. When the night was done, off came the mask and/or make-up and off to bed we went, our stomachs full of all that nutritious sugar. 

 Early in my Christian walk as a young adult, I remember hearing a particular teaching regarding our faith in Christ and how by faith we become ‘recipients of His righteousness because ours was like filthy rags’. And what stands out to me from some of those early teachings was that because I/we would never be good enough in God’s eyes, that by ‘faith we put on the righteousness of God’, or as Paul said in Romans 13:14 – “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (funny how the end of that verse gets left off a lot, go read it real quick) 

 I distinctly remember an illustration being used on more than one occasion that if you had ‘accepted Christ’ as your savior, that when God looked down from heaven or heard you pray, that He didn’t see you, per say, rather He saw Jesus. It was as if you had slipped in to a ‘Jesus costume’, and since Jesus was perfect and acceptable to God, it was like your protective barrier so your true filthy self did not get fried by God’s holiness. It also was going to help you get prayers answered quicker as well. 

 I want to tread cautiously here and keep in mind that one reason the deceptive teachings and doctrines which abound are so effective, is because there is always a thread of truth woven through it. That’s what makes it so deceptive. I’m not sure if I totally ever bought in fully to this idea that I could somehow think all was good with me and God as long as I had on my ‘Jesus costume’. It was almost like I was deluding myself to think I was ‘faking God out’ with this ‘Holy Camo’. 

 I even heard a well-meaning believer not long ago use a similar example to describe their walk of faith that when God looks at her, He sees Jesus in her spirit and over time He will ‘clean up’ the inward mess. Again, very fine line of interpretation here. Where I see a disconnect’ is we tend to ‘trust the costume’ more than we do the ‘process of sanctification’. That’s just a big fancy word to describe the process of God making us pure and holy and conforming us to the nature and likeness of Christ. But make no mistake about it…it is such a vital part of our relationship with God, that Paul admonished us to ‘pursue sanctification/holiness… for without it, no one will see God’. (Hebrews 12:14) 

 When we turn to God with all our hearts, we truly are a wretched mess. And He still loves us and embraces us and in spite of our sinful hearts, He sets a ‘hedge’ around us and envelops us in His peace. We are recipients of that peace and can walk in it continually…Provided we FOLLOW HIS LEADING. There is this little detail called ‘obedience’ and ‘follow me’ and…’He became the author of eternal salvation to all who OBEY Him”. (Heb 5:9) Romans 8:14 say’s that ‘those who are LED by the Spirit of God, THESE are the sons of God.” 

 And IF you are walking in/with the spirit, you won’t be fulfilling the lust of the flesh nature. (Gal 5:16) Remember that other half of the verse I mentioned above in Romans about ‘putting on the Lord Jesus’? The rest of that verse says you will ‘make NO provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lust.’ Oh, have I mentioned that when we act out in the flesh, fulfilling its desires, we are sinning? Yeah, we can talk more about that one later. 

 Want another verse to chew on? “Whoever abides in Him does not sin.” ( 1 John 3:6)

 I’ll wait while you clean the coffee you just spewed out all over you computer screen. 

 We talked about abiding in Him yesterday. I suggested three scenarios that might describe your current mindset of where you are regarding that. A shallow understanding of abiding in Him basically is reduced to ‘wearing our Jesus costume’ for various periods of time. Some only wear it on Sundays when they attend church; others, for extended periods of time perhaps throughout the week; usually though when around other folks. But how many of us are guilty of the minute we come home, to the people who know us best, and we ‘slip out of that costume quickly and the ‘real us inside’ gets to relax and breath again?

 …taking a moment for the Holy Spirit to show you some things here… 

 Please read this slowly: Just because your child may put on a Batman costume, does not make him Batman. You are not a child of God because you ‘wear a Jesus costume’ that you put on after you said some words about ‘Jesus being the Son of God and died on a cross’. 

 You become a child of God when you turn to Him (repent) and surrender your will and begin to follow in obedience. 1 John 3:4-10 explains how you can tell the difference. It is not easy reading…on that ‘flesh person’ behind the costume. You’ve been warned. 

 I am hear to tell you that the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is much more effective than a flimsy church costume and God can truly transform your heart and life where you can take off all the masks…and be conformed to His nature and likeness. (Romans 8:29)