O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.

~Isaiah 33:2 NIV

 

For most of us, we can’t imagine getting up in the morning and heading out into society without first brushing our teeth and washing our faces. 

 

 

 

We can’t imagine leaving the house without first taking a shower, emptying our bladder, and exchanging our rumpled jammies for clothes that don’t look slept in.

How many make a habit of heading out the door or walking into our place of business without first having a bite of something to eat and at least a few sips of our morning coffee? We need its warmth to ease us into a day of toil and its stimulating effects to lift our heavy eyelids and sullen mood. We have grown accustomed to the side effects afforded us by our morning brew.

Unless there is an emergency, we can’t imagine not doing these things, but so often we go out the door without first feeding our spirit and drinking in the water of the Word. There is no condemnation (Romans 8:1) with the revelation, but merely a realization that we do these physical things out of habit to make ourselves feel better, look better, be more presentable, and be less offensive to those we will encounter. 

We understand that what we take internally affects our mood and how we think and respond to our families and the world around us.

While these physical routines are so apparent, we can be oblivious to our spiritual condition when we enter the world without first standing beneath the cleansing shower of repentance for yesterday’s sin (Ephesians 1:7) and washing our mouths clean of slander (Proverbs 10:18), gossip, and grumbling. 

It is clear to see when walking into the world dressed in the rumpled bedclothes of our own righteousness.  It is revealed when we rely upon our wits, still dulled by slumber, and by a sharp, sarcastic tongue when we enter the world with a spirit and soul that are hungry and thirsty.

Beloved, have the physical aspects of life pulled your attention away from maintaining a healthy spirit? Are you offering less than the best version of yourself to your family and the world each day by forgetting to first come before God? Today is the day to start again.  

Are you clothed in the Spirit and ready to minister?

Father God, help me to put first things first by seeking You before anyone else. Help me to enter the day clothed with a garment of praise (Isaiah 61:3), clean and dressed in the righteousness of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30), with my spirit well-fed from the Word, perfumed with the fragrance of Christ, and my heart overflowing with love, compassion, courage, and godly wisdom. I pray that this equipping will become so much a part of who I am that I would no sooner greet the day without these preparations than to walk unclothed in public. In Jesus Christ’s name, amen.

 

Genre: Non-fiction

Copyright 2021: Unclothed in Public: Julie Souza Bradley Lilly: All Rights Reserved