Clothed With Salvation

 

“I delight greatly in the Lord …”

—from Isaiah 61:10

Do you spend time planning, thinking about, and carefully choosing your wardrobe each day? If you do, you are a far better person than I am. Please allow me to explain:

Back in 1975, John T. Molloy wrote a book titled Dress for Success. ¹ This book intended to help people in business choose a wardrobe that would greatly enhance their chances of rising upward in whatever company for which they worked. The book made a huge splash in the business community. I read it carefully from cover to cover. Then, I dropped the book into the trash can.

As a bit of a weird someone, with very few social skills, who kind people refer to as “chubby” and who my Personal Care Physician calls “morbidly obese,” I have long had difficulty finding clothes that fit. In fact, I seriously doubt that any wardrobe choice would make me appear thin, handsome, or socially acceptable. In addition, in regard to many things for which other people willingly spend money, I am a tightwad. So, the whole idea of spending a significant block of time and a significant amount of money designing a success-assuring wardrobe seems laughable to me.

As Christians, it’s quite common in the current church to disclaim any concern about what people wear to worship on Saturday night or Sunday. I understand that what someone wears really should not interfere with the way other believers receive that one into the fellowship of the church. But, we followers of Jesus do have a unique bit of clothing that shapes our lives. The Prophet Isaiah wrote about this special clothing in Isaiah 61:10:

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Through the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, and through the power of His shed blood on the cross, God has clothed you and me with salvation and righteousness. We wear unique spiritual “clothing” that signifies our membership in God’s eternal Kingdom.

As we move out into this new day, let’s live our lives worthy of the spiritual “clothing” in which we have been clothed. Let’s honor God’s choice to clothe us in salvation and righteousness by living in a way that honors Him and magnifies to others His great and powerful love.

 

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1 Molloy, John T. Dress for Success. New York, NY: Warner Publishing Company, 1985. Citation of any Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Transactional Cleansing

 

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

—1 John 1:9

In many ways, as we move along the road of our lives, the interactions we have with other individuals comes about as a series of transactions. Please allow me to explain a bit further:

A few years after I entered the workforce, writer Thomas Anthony Harris wrote a book in 1969 that took the business world by storm. Titled I’m OK—You’re OK, ¹ this book provided an easy-to-understand introduction to a psychological tool called “Transactional Analysis” (TA).

Basically, TA asserts that the neurological research of Wilder Penfield could be merged with the psychotherapeutic work of Eric Berne to create a model for assessing and understanding human interaction within the framework of interpersonal relationships. Harris creates a model for this analysis that casts each participant in an instance of interpersonal relationship (transaction) as either a Parent, Adult, or Child.

In my role at the insurance company where I worked for most of my career, I taught the basics of TA for many years. It proved most helpful in giving employees a way of divorcing themselves from the emotions of an interpersonal transaction, so they could critically analyze what was taking place and how to bring agreement, or harmony, to a disharmonious relationship.

Our relationships take place as transactions. As Christians, we often lose sight of the fact that our relationship with God is transactional—in fact, it is a covenantal relationship. God created us that we might know Him and that He might enjoy a relationship with us for all eternity. But, our first parents, Adam and Eve, failed to obey His single command. As a result, sin entered the perfect world God had created. That sin became passed down to every successive generation, right to us in this the present time.

Early on, God set apart a people to be His ambassadors to the troubled and needy world. God formed a covenantal relationship—a transactional relationship—with these very special people. These chosen ones, the Jews, were given a means of temporarily covering their sins through the shedding of the blood of specific animals. God told them, through His spokesmen, that this act was a foreshadowing of a once-for-all atonement for sin that He would bring about in the future.

God’s relationship with His chosen people was a rocky one because they continually strayed from following close to Him and obeying His commands. But, out of the line of King David, God caused His one and only Son to take on human form. Born of a virgin, this God-man, Jesus, would eventually die on a cruel Roman cross of torture and shed His blood to cover the sins of all those God would call to Himself. God then grafted into the line of the Jews certain non-Jews, or Gentiles, thus extending redemption through His Son to people from every tribe and nation whom God would call to Himself.

The forgiveness of sins is transactional. And, we are a blessed part of that transaction. As the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 1:5-10:

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Throughout this new day, let’s remember to confess our sins to God and receive His pardon. While the penalty for sin has truly been paid by the blood of Jesus, we must strive to overcome those sins that would still enslave us. Because we bear the sin nature of Adam, until we pass from this life to the next, we will always sin. But, we can learn through the transaction of confession to become more and more like Jesus.

 

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1 Harris, Thomas Anthony. I’m OK—You’re OK. North Hollywood, CA: Galahad Publishing Company, 2004. In each case, the citation of any Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

We've Been Shown

 

“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

—Micah 6:8

Here’s a scenario to which we all can likely relate:

It’s a person’s second day in his or her new job. Yesterday, this one spent the day filling out paperwork and taking a tour of the facility where he or she will now work. This person met key people. Sat at his or her new desk and did a bit of organizing of it. Now, it’s time to begin to do actual work.

Someone has placed a rather tall pile of file folders on this one’s desk. Obviously, he or she is supposed to do something with what’s inside those folders. But, this one has no clue. No one has shown him or her what to do.

This person sits there for a while. He or she even opens one of the folders and look at the contents. This one looks around to see what the other workers are doing. He or she sighs, and, to his or her self whispers:

“I wish someone would, very directly, tell me what I am supposed to do!”

The American Management Association declares, in several of its major research projects on improving worker productivity, that the number one thing workers want to happen is for someone—anyone—to tell them exactly what they’re supposed to do.

As a long-term management consultant, I can’t for the life of me imagine why this necessary direction isn’t given automatically. Don’t managers realize they must always clearly tell their employees what tasks they are to perform, and that they must train their employees exactly how to perform the tasks that make up their jobs?

As followers of Jesus, we do not have to ask God what He wants us to do. He has clearly told us in His written Word, the Bible. In fact, notice what the Prophet Micah has shared, as found in Micah 6:8:

He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Wow! Here’s just one of many places in Scripture where God speaks to us through His choice servant and tells us what we need to do. Can we ask any more than that? No, we can’t. So, as this new day begins, let’s get to work. Okay?

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Everyone Who Asks, Receives

 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. …”

—from Matthew 7:7

Did you ever ask for something and the person you were asking said, “No!” As children, that seems to happen more than it does for us as adults. Although, I am sad to report that I know a woman who is married to a man who seems to delight in saying “No!” to almost every request she makes. I always feel sad when I hear about such people. I guess I’m someone who prefers, even delights, in saying “Yes!”

I also know Someone who really, really delights in saying “Yes!” to the children He dearly loves. And that, of course, is God. Jesus explained this quality of His Father in Matthew 7:7-8:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

As we begin a new day, let’s not hesitate to ask of God whatever we wish. We can do so knowing that He will give us all that we truly need, whenever our request matches His divine and perfect will for us. He will reach into His storehouse and give us an abundant outpouring of His richest blessings. He does this because He loves us.

And, maybe that’s a lesson we need to learn. Maybe we need to learn to say “Yes!” whenever we hear of someone who needs our help. What a joy it is whenever we can share with others what God has so graciously given to us.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A Life of Trusting in God

 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart …”

—from Proverbs 3:5

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, it was very popular for Evangelical Christian teenagers to become part of Youth For Christ International (YFC). This nationally significant organization had arisen in the early 1940s out of rallies held across the United States and overseas. The Rev. Dr. Billy Graham became the first full-time staff member of Youth For Christ International. Please allow me to share a bit of my personal history:

Youth For Christ had a number of key elements that those of us who participated in the twice-monthly rallies adopted, to name a few:

• The red-covered YFC Bible, which we were encouraged to carry on top of our books at school
  
  
• A commitment to spend time each day in Bible reading and in prayer
  
  
• Choosing a “life’s verse” from Scripture that would both mark and guide our lives
  
  
• Familiarity with somewhat simple songs with happy melodies that celebrated our relationship with Jesus Christ
  
  
• A determination to sexual purity, partularly in light of the all too rapidly changing behaviors that came to the front of society in the mid-1960s.
  
  

We were very serious about our devotion to Christ and His Kingdom. We participated in Bible Study groups, as well as faithfully attending the rallies. We devoured each issue of YFC Magazine when it arrived in our mailbox. We followed the travels of Billy Graham, Jack Wyrtzen, Dave Breese, Sam Wolgemuth, Torrey Johnson, and other key YFC leaders.

I can remember the evening that I sat in the control room at radio station WESB in my hometown of Bradford, Pennsylvania, when the telephone rang and the local YFC leader, Ted Hess, asked if he could stop by the radio station on his way home from work. Naturally, I agreed and soon he sat next to me as I monitored the broadcast of a New York Yankees baseball game.

“Have you been praying about your life’s verse?” Ted asked me.

“Yes, I have,” I replied. “And, I’ve been thinking quite a lot about it, too. I have no idea what God has in store for me. In some ways, I feel drawn in three very different directions: radio broadcasting, fire protection, and the ministry. I really don’t know which of those God wants me to pursue. But, I know He will reveal His plan to me in His time. So, I think I know the Scripture passage that I will choose as my life’s verses. They’re Proverbs 3:5-6.”

“Oh!” Ted exclaimed. “I think that’s a perfect choice for you.”

And so, I took the words of King Solomon, as recorded in Proverbs 3:5-6, and made them my own:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

While I have failed in my quest to be obedient to God many times over the years of my life, I have never lost sight of the truth of these two verses. Time and again, God has proven faithful to these golden words. The more that I have learned to lean on Him, to trust Him, to give Him the whole of my heart, the more He has directed my path. And, the more I have made certain to acknowledge Him and the key role He has in my life, the more I have the confidence of knowing that He is keeping my pathway straight.

This new day, I commend these verses to all who may read this blog post. Let us do what these verses instruct. Let us trust God with all of our hearts. Let’s specifically determine to not lean on our own understanding. Let’s acknowledge God’s critically important role in our lives. And, let us enjoy, with great peace, the reality that God will make our paths straight.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Worthy of Praise

 

“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.”

—Psalm 103:1

God is worthy of our praise for so very many reasons. Here are just a few of them, as written by King David and found in Psalm 103:1-5:

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Praising God offers us a means of spiritual renewal. When we focus on who God has revealed Himself to be, and when we focus on what God has done, we begin to experience within our own selves a sense of His goodness permeating our lives. God desires to renew us each day. Praising Him grants us the ability to focus on the God who loves us with His unending love. As our humble praises rise to God, He provides a spirit of joy that lifts us up above the mundane problems of our earthly lives.

As we begin another day of life, we would do well to start our day with praise to God. His everlasting love fills us full to overflowing. Every good thing comes from Him. Our salvation and eternal life give us meaning beyond our ability to comprehend. He guards us and guides us. This day, let’s not allow anything to diminish our praise for the God who is our All-in-All.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Baptized Into New Life

 

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

—from Romans 6:3

The Sacrament of Baptism holds great significance for the follower of Jesus. In the Reformed tradition, we baptize the children of believing parents in the expectation that God’s covenant reaches down through the lines of families. Unlike some Christian traditions, whether baptizing children or adults, we require the baptism to take place as a part of a worship service. We do this because, in addition to promises the parents make regarding the raising of their child, the members of the church in the congregation also promise to do their part to nurture the Christian spiritual formation of this young child.

Of course, other traditions require the person being baptized to have made a conscious and willful profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as their Savior and Lord. I understand their reasoning for doing this and, in fact, worshipped for many years in just such a tradition.

No matter what specific tradition your church may follow, the Sacrament of Baptism mirrors the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It is both a sacramental act and an act with deep symbolism. As the one being baptized rises from the baptismal waters, he or she experiences, in sacrament and symbol, the newness of life that the Apostle Paul was writing about in Romans 6:3-4:

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

As we begin a new day, let’s remember that we who belong to God through His Son have experienced the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus through the Sacrament of Baptism. We now live in a new life. We need to let go of the “old things” and cling to the new life we have been given through the Lord Jesus Christ. In our “newness of life,” we represent Jesus to a world that desperately needs His salvation. We become light in the darkness and salt for the unpreserved. Let’s go forth this day and truly be salt and light, so that all who cross our pathway will sense God’s mercy, grace, and amazing love.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Key to Success

 

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”

—Proverbs 16:3

Most ambitious individuals look for some almost magical key to success. Some motivational books will insist such a key consists of a carefully crafted, frequently reviewed, and modified-as-necessary strategic plan. Other motivational sources insist that success comes from determined hard work. Still other such books will claim that it’s who you know and the alliances you form that will guarantee a person’s success.

This is not at all the way that a follower of Jesus should look at success. First and foremost, the very definition of the word “success” takes on a new meaning for a child of God. Success, in terms of God’s ambassadors, must become defined in the terms that relate to our role of stewards.

I’ve shared many times on this blog that a steward is a slave elevated to a position of responsibility in his or her Master’s Kingdom. Still a bond slave (see Deuteronomy 15), such a person invests all of himself or herself into actions that will benefit the Master’s hopes, dreams, desires, and wishes. It is a calling to absolute obedience and total commitment. King Solomon expressed this sentiment well, when he wrote these words found in Proverbs 16:3:

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

This instruction does not mean:

“When you begin a task, pause for a moment, pray, and ask God’s blessing on your self-appointed task.”

Quite to the contrary, this wise saying indicates that we must, first of all, know exactly what our Master desires. We learn this by reading, studying, and meditating on His written Word, the Bible. Next, we must clearly recognize our part and His part. We cannot serve Him alone. That’s why He gave us the in-dwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Working under the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can proceed to obediently follow the pathway laid out before us and accomplish for God what He intends.

As we begin a new day, let’s not lose sight of the fact that God wants us to achieve success—as He defines that word. He wants us to reap the benefit of our obedient service to Him and to His Kingdom. So, let’s rejoice that He has loved us enough to make us a part of His effort to free the world from sin, death, and Satan.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Let Us Help

 

“Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

—Galatians 6:2

One of the great joys of belonging to God through His Son, Jesus, is the opportunities He gives us to help other people. Nothing makes us smile quite as much as seeing one of our brothers or sisters in Christ helping someone in need. The Apostle Paul wrote these words of instruction, found in Galatians 6:2:

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

The road of life is just too difficult to travel it alone. That’s why God created His church—to bring believers together, so they could worship Him, while they encourage and help each other. We need to keep this reality in the forefront of our minds.

As we begin a new day, let’s look for opportunities where we can be of assistance to our fellow “Christ’s-ones.” And, let’s also be aware of people around us who have needs that we can help them meet. Giving a hand-up is certainly a fitting way to honor the God who loves us with His everlasting love. By so doing, we represent Him well to a world that needs to learn of Him.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Dead to Sin

 

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”

—Romans 6:1

I have a dear friend who, by God’s grace and his own determined discipline, has freed himself from addiction to alcohol. It wasn’t that he was a falling down drunk. But, more and more, he found his life controlled by the desire to “take the edge off” with a drink of some alcoholic beverage. Soon, almost every waking thought was directed toward when he would be able to have his next drink. And, once he began to drink, he had a very hard time reigning in the desire for more and more booze.

But then, one day he realized he had completely lost control of his life. He fell to his knees and poured his heart out to God. He sought help through Alcoholics Anonymous. Soon, he began to sense that, with God’s help, he had regained control of his own life. Today, he has not had a drink for nearly 45 years. His life has taken on new meaning and purpose. He has accomplished a great deal, not only in his personal and professional lives, but he has accomplished much on behalf of Christ and His Kingdom.

We may not feel enslaved to alcohol or drugs, but in many ways we humans have become enslaved to sin. The ironic part of this, for those of us who believe in the life-transforming power of the living Lord Jesus Christ, is that Christ has freed us from the bondage of sin. Why, then, do we keep re-enslaving ourselves to destructive behaviors? The Apostle Paul wrote these words of admonition, as recorded in Romans 6:1:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Through the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, we have been given the power from the Holy Spirit that allows us to put sin to death. Our bondage to sin is over. As we begin this new day, isn’t it high time we started to live like sin has no hold over us? Should we not call a halt to continuing to repeat the same sins over and over and over again?

Let me be so bold as to suggest that this new day gives us an opportunity to make a conscious decision to stop ourselves from repeatedly sinning. We can ask for God’s help, through the Holy Spirit. We can fill our minds and hearts with positive spiritual thoughts that will steer us away from those worldly negative thoughts that drag us into sin. After all, don’t we owe our very lives to Jesus? It’s time we took a stand against the sin that we allow to plague our lives.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}