Colossians 3:9-11. Never lie to one another; because you have stripped away the old self, with its ways, and have put on the new self, which is continually being renewed in fuller and fuller knowledge, closer and closer to the image of its Creator. The new self allows no room for discriminating between Gentile and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, foreigner, savage, slave, free man; on the contrary, in all, the Messiah is everything. (Complete Jewish Bible)
This passage uses the image of changing clothes as a metaphor for the changes Christ initiates in our lives – especially changes in the ways that we understand ourselves in relationship to one another and in the ways that we treat those who are different from us. We are now 1/4 of the way through our Lenten Journey, “Breaking Down Walls.” How have you changed? What “fuller knowledge” have you experienced? What evidence do you see of your life mirroring the “image of God?”
Prayer: One God, in Three Persons, creator of one human species, in many hues: all who pray to you are descendants of Adam and Eve, all members of one race called “human.” Forgive the blindness that causes our eyes to notice and magnify those things we regard as different from ourselves in others. Teach us to see clearly, that we, your children, are far more alike than we are different. Help us to put aside the prejudices embedded within us, and to see within every person the Child of God you created, our sister or brother, destined for Glory. In the name of One who died for all persons, of all colors, Jesus Christ. –Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia
Tongue on Fire 