TO PUT ON CHRIST

 
            A good illustration of putting something on could be to get into a kart for an intended purpose, like entering a race.  To develop a need to “put on a kart” will take some convincing.  In my particular form of racing, I must travel for 45 minutes, on a two-mile road coarse race track, at a rate of speed to complete 30 laps. That's 60 miles in 45 minutes. 

To accomplish this by running, even in my New Balance running shoes, is an impossibility.  I could try other ways, like putting on a bike, or my Pontiac Vibe, or my motor home; each of which would only fall short.  I know that only by personally putting on my kart will it be possible.  My kart is the only answer.
 
            Beyond karting, a better illustration would be this…  Let's say I was flying in a plane thousands of feet above the earth.  I had been instructed about the availability of a parachute in case of an emergency.  Then a flashing red light appears. The pilot put it on after an engine failure to warn me of an impending crash.  To believe in the ability of the parachute would not be enough to save me.  Only by putting on the parachute, and then jumping out the disabled plane, would my life be saved.  Here the life threatening danger multiplied the need to put something on.
 
            Spiritually, the Bible says that we are all lost, for all have sinned.  We are in great danger and need to be saved.  The problem can be that we don't recognize it, and therefore are blind to our need.

Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."  As I move about this earth, I am amazed at the lack of honor and worship given to God who " . . . made every nation, that they should inhabit the whole earth: and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live . . . that men would seek Him." (Acts 17: 26-27)

God also provides for us: Matthew 6:26, "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"  

We have a great need for forgiveness just in the area of indifference to his goodness alone - just like trusting the parachute in case of a plane crash.  We have great need to cling to, grasp for, ask for, believe and trust the Gospel: Christ's substitutional death and resurrection for our sin.  That's what saves my soul. "…and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:24.

That is the only answer for our salvation. Why not trust Him now and be saved from sin and its power?

Ken Dressler