The Jesus Shirt. Romans 13.14

Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ,  

Paul said. Romans 13.14

The mental image has danced in my head all week.  So what if we could put on a shirt that would make us like Christ? 

Picture an over-sized man’s dress shirt, that you could put right over the top of whatever else you are wearing; before you leave the house, you grab your ‘like Jesus’ shirt, put it on; with it, comes his character.  Perhaps one sleeve would have the word servant . . . the other sleeve, compassionate . . . maybe across the top of the back would be keeps no record of wrongs, and the shirt pocket would have the armor of god. 

In random spots, are the words joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,  and gentleness.  On the cuffs, the words self control.  Around the collar on the inside is trustworthy, and visible from the outside is faithful.

I stopped by my friend Jen’s house the other day, and we were talking about the fact that it just isn’t easy to consistently ‘walk the walk’.  But if we could put on a Jesus shirt, that would remind us who we are, and whose we are.  It would be a little like the Orthodox Jews and the phylacteries, which contain little parchment slips of verses from the Torah, and are worn by men on the head and left arm.

 prayer at the Western Wall, Jerusalem, 2003

Now I have never seen anyone don a Jesus shirt like I am describing, of course.  But you and I need to be just that intentional about choosing each new day to live in such a way as to honor God.

Because while it was an initial singular decision to place your trust in God, by choosing to follow the path of Jesus Christ—we must by intention choose again each day the path we will trod. 

That is the reason I so often turn my heart toward heaven and utter the words, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.*

But I tell you---I still think I am on to something with this Jesus shirt.

Christine