“You familiar with the expression, ‘All dressed up with no place to go’?” Stan asked me one morning.
“Of course,” I replied. “Why do you ask that?”
“It happened with some neighbors the other night,” Stan said. “He and his wife were just about to head out the door to have dinner with some friends when they got a call from their friends saying they weren’t feeling well and needed to cancel.”
“Probably disappointed,” I commented.
“They were,” Stan replied. “But they called us to see if we were available for a spur-of-the-moment invitation to go out to dinner with them.”
“Did you?”
“Yeah,” Stan said, “we ended up at Mario’s over on Franklin. Had a nice time with some good food and great conversation about being all dressed up with everywhere to go.”
“Don’t you mean nowhere to go?”
“No,” Stan replied. “We were talking about being all dressed up in Christ’s robe of righteousness for when we step into eternity, but how we are left on this side of eternity to manifest the righteousness of Christ wherever we go and whatever we do.”
“Oh,” I said, “being all dressed with everywhere to go. Kind of like what Jesus said about going into the whole world to make disciples.”
“That’s it,” Stan replied. “The ‘whole world’ is certainly ‘everywhere,’ and that’s where we’re supposed to go in manifesting the righteousness of Christ, but we have to be careful.”
“Careful about what?”
“To not practice righteousness just to be seen by other people,” Stan replied.
“Yeah,” I said, “I guess there could be a difference in the motivation behind why I want to practice righteousness, to be seen by others as self-righteous or to be seen by others as manifesting the righteousness of Christ.”
“More than a guess, my friend,” Stan replied.
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Bible verses to consider:
I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10.
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. Job 29:14.
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, . . . Ephesians 6:14.
Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 6:1.
But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; . . . Matthew 23:5.
Prayer: Thank you, Father for your provision of the finished work of the cross that I could accept and be clothed with Christ’s righteousness for when I step into eternity to spent the rest of it with you. Thank you, too, that you have left me on this side of eternity to practice and manifest the righteousness of Christ in the life you have given me to live. I confess that too often I do not manifest His righteousness because I choose to manifest something else apart from Him and apart from you. Please forgive that foolishness, and please help me in following every step of your lead in manifesting the righteousness of Christ in every aspect of my life. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Have you accepted God’s free and gracious provision of Christ’s robe of righteousness for when your time here is completed? If no, why? If you do have the assurance of salvation and redemption for when you step into eternity, how are you doing with manifesting Christ’s righteousness on this side of eternity? If you sense the need for changes in your life, how are those changes going to happen? Is that what you want? Why or why not?
Waiting for the Train 