this past sunday a few of us took a group of 5th and 6th grade students to hike pinnacle mountain. it was quite a fun group of students, and i really enjoyed the time we were able to spend together driving out to the park, hiking around to the back side of the mountain, climbing, hanging out at the summit, and descending back to the cars again for the drive back to the building.
the weather was perfect for our adventure. the sun was out, it was warm, and the heat of the summer sun was nothing more than a memory on this late september day. there were more than a few mosquitoes hunting for a meal as we hiked the skirt of the mountain. for much of the summer this area was wet due to the unprecedented rain we received this year, and the mosquito population had adjusted appropriately.
we were a little later than planned getting back to the parking lot after the climb, so we would forgo the traditional mcdonalds run on our way back to the church building. instead we would arrive just in time to catch a breath and find a seat (preferably one with some distance between our group and those who had not been sweating all afternoon). i texted my wife as we headed back toward the building and asked her to grab me a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that i could change into. i have to at least keep an appearance of professionalism at the workplace. (i think both of you who read my blog surely know, but for those who may stumble into reading this blog unaware: i am employed as a full-time youth minister.)
so my wife made it to the building with my change of clothes, and we both darted into my office so that i would do one of those clark kent / superman phone booth changes. after the quick-change i headed down the hall for a sip from the drinking fountain. i crossed through the front of the foyer and caught the eye of two students from our high school program. tyler asked me where our devo would be that night. then bradley looked at my shirt and said one word, “wannabe.”
I looked back at him a little confused, and I guess he could tell because he explained – kind of. “did you play baseball for harding?” he asked with an obvious expectation of my “no.” at which point he pointed out that i was wearing a bisons baseball t-shirt. i explained that being a fan doesn’t make one a wannabe. nor does receiving and wearing a free t-shirt.
but it got me to thinking…
and that lead to the change of topic for the devo that night as well.
when bradley accused me of being a wannabe i was immediately defensively. i’m not a wannabe. i done wanna be a wannabe. i know who i am and i know where i am headed with life and i know that i don’t like being thought of as or called a wannabe.
i have that shirt because i like the school it represents. i like the way the shirt looks. i put on that shirt because my wife brought it to me.
but there is something else i have put on. there is something else that i wear.
consider the following verses:
romans 13:11-14besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. for salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. the night is far gone; the day is at hand. so then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
galatians 3:23-27now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. so then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. but now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
colossians 3:12-17put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. and above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. and be thankful. let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. and whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
the first two passages tell us (within their separate contexts) that we should put on Christ, and in fact that those of us who are Christians [that is, those of us who have been baptized] have put on Christ. the third passage explains what that looks like.
i got to thinking…
i looked at my shirt.
i imagined myself wearing Christ.
if my shirt instead of plastered with a collegiate mascot and ball team were plastered with Christ, what would that mean? how would that change the way people see me. how would it change the way i looked at other people looking at me.
but why should that change anything?
why should it change anything if i were wearing a Christ-shirt?
shouldn’t that be obvious? shouldn’t it be undeniable? shouldn’t it be glaring to everyone who sees me that i have put on Christ?
yet, all too often even the people who see me every day don’t see Christ in me. they see something else. and that something changes. and that something isn’t always a bad something. but anything that gets in the way of others seeing Christ in me is something i need to re-place.
after all, i want people to notice.
i want people to see that i have put on Christ. no, that’s not enough. i want people to see Christ and not me.
i wanna be more and more like Christ.
i never wanna settle for anything less.
i wanna see people like Christ sees them – beautiful, and broken, and longing to be made whole again.
i wanna minister like Christ ministered.
i wanna touch people’s lives with pure motives.
i wanna be like Christ.
i am wannabe.
and i am ok with that.
in fact, i am great with that.
i am a wannabe.
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.Romans 13:11-14 (ESV)