A Weekly message from your Children’s Church Leader at New Day Christian Church of Las Vegas. Sunday school meets Sunday’s after worship.

Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ and children of God,

Now that February is nearly over, spring is right behind and you know what that means? Spring cleaning. You thought I was going to say Easter? No, we are getting there, but first we must do a little spring cleaning. Do you ever pull out old clothes and put them on as you do your spring cleaning? Often they do not seem to fit, or they look a bit outdated. I went through my Don Johnson phase in the 80’s so I understand outdated.

Putting on those old clothes sometimes brings back old memories that we enjoyed living through. Sometimes they feel comfortable, perhaps tight but comfortable, despite the old ruggedness and holes. So, why do we like to pick up the old clothes and put them on?  They are familiar to us and take us back to a time before we changed how we dress now.

Imagine the clothes you wore were the ways you lived, and that your old clothes were how you acted, and how you believed and lived before you came to Christ, and the clothes you wear now are the new way in which you live after Christ entered your life. We have a tendency sometimes to pick up the old clothes, or act our old ways, and see how they fit. Even if they do not fit very well, we still wear them for a time because we are familiar with those ways and like how we felt back then. It is easy to put those clothes back on, or act those ways, because the troubles we face today are hard and uncomfortable. We want things to be simple and easy. However, as you know, even new clothes can be a little uncomfortable at times, but we wear them, because we have changed our ways.

Paul tells us to put off our old self, because it leads to deceitful desires. We are to put on the new self, which was created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24). These were instructions for Christian living to those living in a diverse society just as we are today. It is easy to put the old self back on because life gets hard and we like the familiarity of the old self, but to do that would be going backwards and although going forward into the unknown can be difficult and at times seem impossible to handle, remember that nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37), for you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength (Philippians 4:13). We have been changed because we wanted a life that had hope, and therefore we believed in Christ who gives us that hope. To put our old self back on would be like putting the old clothes back on; they would not fit. The old self does not bring hope like the hope that Christ brings.

For those who are still wearing the old clothes, and living the life of hopelessness, then now is as good as any to remove those clothes and reach for the cloth that can heal. Christ is waiting for you to call on Him so He can do a wardrobe change in your life and give you an opportunity of hope and life eternal.

Last week the little lambs learned what love is from 1 Corinthians 13, and the different types of love, such as the love (eros) Jesus had for Peter, and the kind of love (philo) Peter had for Jesus, because Peter understood he did not yet have the same love. However, he would one day soon have such a love for Jesus. This week we will continue our Love Month as we look at the commandments and the two greatest commands, and how God uses love to discipline us.

I look forward to worshipping with you tomorrow and praising the life changing Designer and Creator with songs of joy and dancing before the Great One we call Lord. If for whatever reason I do not see you tomorrow, may the Lord bless you with joy, peace, and His abundant love, and may He heal you, comfort you, and guide you when you need it.

God bless you

Your brother in Christ

Michael (aka Mr. Michael)