Clothed in Grace

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The Kingdom of God is not my dysfunction. 

The Kingdom of God is not my refusal to admit I was wrong.

The Kingdom of God is not my bent to do the opposite of what I set out to do.

The Kingdom of God is not about me.

It is easy to want something; it is another thing to obtain it. In the life we live in this fast-paced and consumer driven modern world, our wants and needs become conflated. I mistake what I desire for what I need. I need water, food, sunlight, community, and love. I don’t necessarily need a larger TV, the latest smart device, or the latest status symbol that our culture uses to signify what success is. 

I realize that the wants that I think I need are to make myself feel better about my defects. Status symbols can perhaps hide my disappointment in my wasted opportunities that I’ve squandered. Smart devices and endless scrolling can distract me from the shame I feel about myself. Larger TVs and streaming more shows can temporarily relieve the heartache of past regrets. 

However, these are merely distractions. If I want the Kingdom of God, which is His good reign being more present in my life, I must put away distractions and let the hard work of His Kingdom have its place. The Kingdom challenges me to trust Him, to look for Him to be the center of my life. It makes me dethrone my desires for band-aids for his lordship. Instead of drowning out my pain with distractions, God lovingly confronts my pain with reality. He is God, I am not.

But this is also good news! I am not defined by my wasted opportunities, mistakes, or defects. Jesus sees me as a son. He lavishes unearned love on me like a father or mother loves their child. If I can accept this, I have made the first step to come out of shame. Shame tries to keep me stuck in its grip; it wants to become my definition. Yet God wants me to remove this cloak of rejection and display my true clothing underneath: his adoption as a son.

When Paul talks about clothing ourselves with Christ (see Romans 13:14), he is talking about this. Who we are in reality is how God sees us, how He relates to us. This so crucial for change, because a heart that does not grasp this will not let God heal. When we mistake God’s character for one of being a tyrant with absolute spite for humanity, we run and hide and remain in our shame. Shame becomes the hiding place; shame becomes our identity.

But the good news of the Kingdom is that we no longer have to hide. God isn’t angry. Come home to Him and be healed by the mercy of Christ. Lent is the season of returning; it is the season of embracing all the work Jesus has done to save us. If we can make a habit out of remembering this every day, we will see change in how we see ourselves and our past.

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