Focus: Cloth of Change

Text: Zech.3:4

"Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with CHANGE OF RAIMENT."

We all need change, especially change that involves God. I am talking about change that God makes happen in our lives. I know that it takes a lot of discipline to change. I know that change is costly and challenging. I know it is not easy to change for anyone. But God is always working in the believer to effect the very change that He wants to see in us. Paul speaks of change occurring in his life through collaborative effort. He says, "Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily" (Col.1:29). Paul is cooperating with God for the best of God in his life. Paul is making every effort to actualize God's great effect in his own life.

God wants us to wear the attire of change. We keep changing for the better until we are conformed to the image of Christ. Our change involves moving up the ladder of God's glory - "from glory to glory." With our cooperation, Christ makes our unique and ultimate change possible. According to our text, God gets involved in making possible this radical change. Firstly, God says, "Take away the filthy garments from him." Change involves taking off the clothes that don't fit. There are outfits that don't fit in God's place. Paul tells us two things: to put off the old man, and to put on the new man. So we can't put on the new until we put off the old. Space must be created for space to be filled. But we need the help of others to undress us. We need people who have no qualms seeing our nakedness, people who understand that human holiness has holes in it, and people who know that saintliness is the mark of consecration, not the show of perfection. We need someone whose ministry it is to help us undress. Someone will help you take away the filthy garments.

Secondly, God says, "Behold, I have caused thy iniquity to pass from thee." God Himself takes care of our spiritual inadequacy. He alone forgives us our sins. He deals with our moral filth and ensures that we have a right standing before Him. Paul tells us that forgiveness is one of our spiritual blessings in Christ. He says, "The forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph.1:7). God grants us pardon by the standard of His wealth of grace.

Finally, God says, "I will clothe thee with change of raiment." It is our part to take off the dirty clothes, and it is God's part to both forgive our sins and to dress us up in our new attire.

To occupy our position in God's scheme of things, we must put off some things and put on some other things. Jacob tells his family, "Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments" (Gen.35:2). It is said of blind Bartimaeus, that "he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus" (Mk.10:50). For the delivered mad man, Luke notes, "Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, CLOTHED, and in his right mind: and they were afraid" (Lk.8:35). Jesus restored his sanity and clothed him, and people came to see him for themselves.

Let's get properly clothed. Peter says, "Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with HUMILITY" (1Pet.5:5). That's the cloth of humility.

In Col.3:14, Paul urges us to wear the overalls of love. That's the cloth of love. In Rom.13:14, he says, "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." That's Christ Himself being our perfect outfit.

Beloved of God, if the attire you are putting on is not fitting, change it. It's time to undress and redress. Ghandi says, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." God is fully involved in you changing and manifesting it.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter