Can you imagine a football game taking place and as the players parade onto the field one player is wearing flip-flops, tee shirt, sunglasses, and a baseball cap turned backwards. Besides that, he is holding his cell phone in his hand. Is he ready for the game?
We are smart enough to know how important it is to be “dressed for the occasion.” Athletes, performers, businesspeople, and farmers know how to wear appropriate attire. Jesus tells us about the “appropriate attire” for his disciples (Luke 12:35-38).
“Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servant who await their master’s return from the wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.”
Devoted servants knew how to dress when their master was away on a trip. Though they were sleepy, they did not put on their pajamas and though it was time for bed they didn’t turn off the lights. They were focused on their one and only duty—to be dressed and prepared for the return of their master at an unexpected hour. This attitude is called “vigilance.”
Do you know what a “vigil” is? It is defined as a “period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasional for devotional watching.” The Church established a practice before certain feast days to hold a “vigil.” People would spend the entire night at church in prayer, preparing for the special coming of Jesus the following morning. They were practicing readiness for Jesus’ return. We still use the name “vigil” but I would be surprised if anyone has enough devotion to stay up all night and pray. Yet Jesus tells us to be in a state of “vigilance” at all times.
In the Book of Romans, Paul echoes this teaching of Jesus (Romans 13:11-14).
“…now is the moment to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers. The night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light…put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh.”
Paul warns us to dress in “light”, and that “light” is the Lord Jesus. He tells us to remove any clothing from our spirits that is inappropriate for the “game of faith.” He uses the image of “armor” to remind ourselves that we are parading onto the playing field—a battle is in progress, and we are assigned to be warriors. Do we realize that we are being called onto the playing field? Do we live as though we are spectators sitting in comfortable seats, hot dog and coke in hand, watching the game? Where in the Bible does Jesus encourage this?
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul gets more specific about what clothes we are to wear in the “game of faith.” (Colossians 3:12-14)
“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…Above all, clothe yourself with love which bind everything together…”
We call these virtues the “fruit of the Holy Spirit”—they develop from the grace of the Holy Spirit that lives in our hearts. When we consciously accept Jesus as our Lord and asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we are handed this new “wardrobe.” The Enemy doesn’t want us to wear this equipment and tempts us to go back to our casual clothing that does not reflect the presence of Jesus in us.
Today, then, we ask ourselves what kind of spiritual clothes we are wearing? If we are walking on to the field in flip-flops and sunglasses, we’d better change quickly. If we are looking more at our cell phones than the face of Jesus, it is time to ask God to re-light our lamps. As Paul alerted us, “now is the moment to wake from our sleep” because “the day is near.”
We are living in a time of great spiritual warfare. Are we equipped and ready to play? Are our lamps lit?
Come Holy Spirit fill us anew today with the fire of your love.”
