"OUR DAILY APPAREL" (Pastor Tom Henry) ~ 9/9/25

“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” (Romans 13:14)

This passage contains a most important message to Christians under the metaphor of one rising in the morning and preparing to meet the day. “…knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.” (Vs. 11) “The night is far spent, and the day is at hand.” (Vs. 12) It is time to get up and shed the night clothes, “cast off the works of darkness,” and get dressed for the day, “put on the armour of light.” Notice, the Christian life is a warfare, thus our daily apparel is called armour.

The text sounds the morning call - a wake-up call. The bugle sounds revelry in the camp. For all who have been delivered from the powers of darkness, it is high time for us to shake off the bands of slumber. There is a sleep of inaction, a lethargy that can come over us, and we must be awakened. We must put off the night clothes. No self-respecting person wants to sit around the house in their pajamas when the sun is well up and there’s much work to be done. Yet, while we profess to be “children of the day,” do we linger in our dream world? The natural man may live in a dream world, but let us, having been awakened, say “Farewell ye dreams of night, Jesus is mine.”

There is a measure of undressing before we commence to dress for the day. The figure is simple and common, but it conveys an important lesson. Sins and follies are to be cast off for the night garments are called works of darkness. It does not work to try, as some, to put on religion over the old character. This will never do, for Christ has not come to save us in our sins, but rather, from them. He would not have any to christen their sins under the name of liberty. We are instructed to “put off concerning the former conversation (life) the old man… And be renewed in the spirit of your mind,” and to, “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

This is, essentially, to put on our morning dress. As noted, we put on garments for conflict. This is very instructive. We no sooner are awakened than we must “put on the armour of light,” that is, we must “put on the whole armour of God.” Not only must we be outfitted for the advancement of the cause of Christ against strong resistance, but the old adversary, the devil, will most certainly be on the attack. We must therefore be prepared to “stand against the wiles of the devil.”

The Greek word here rendered “armour” may also be understood to signify garments suitable for the day’s work. The word may mean tool or weapon. The Christian life is a calling, a vocation (Eph. 4:1). Of course, we can never lay aside the armour, for we are soldiers enlisted in Christ’s army, and we are always at war. Yet we have fields to plow, seed to plant and water, harvests to gather, vineyards to attend, sheep to feed, and the list goes on. We must put on garments of light, and work while it is day.

How we respond to the morning call in summed up in our text verse. “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” Christ Himself is our daily apparel. We need not go to the closet and stew about what we are going to wear today. Christ is the perfect outfit for every day.