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November 1, 2021

Navigating the Chaos: Wear the Suit

I’m tired of talking about this “COVID Season”. The pounding message of “be afraid, be very afraid”, with a thousand different voices shouting conflicting messages. Would somebody get it all to stop, already?!!

However, we, as citizens of the kingdom of God, have not yet gotten our bearings on how to navigate (and help others navigate) through all this chaotic noise and uncertainty. All the uncertainty is oppressive. We are all affected by this heaviness, and find ourselves struggling to mentally and emotionally wade through it all. So we need to continue to process this together.

For us, there is an answer, but it won’t be discovered by parsing all the conflicting information being hurled at us. Rather, we need to put on “the suit”. The apostle Paul calls this “suit” the ‘new self’. He references it in Colossians 3:10 and in Ephesians 4:24. I like his wording in Colossians: “and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him. 

To illustrate the power of this truth, I want to refer to the Marvel Comics character, Iron Man.  The main character has a high tech suit. When he puts on the suit, he has access to his high powered computer, who talks to him and gives him all the information he needs. The suit also gives him the ability to do things beyond his human capabilities. He can fly, he has armored protection, and he has access to amazing weapons.  

Now, using this picture, imagine taking Paul’s admonition to put on the “new self”. Our new self, in Christ, gives us access to the voice of the Holy Spirit, which provides a level of wisdom and knowledge that is beyond normal human capacity. This supernatural “suit” filters out all the chaotic noise and lets us hear desperately needed “wisdom from above” (James 3:17-18). In the quiet of this “suit”, we can hear truth and receive wisdom that is pure, free of worry, lacking in harshness, congruent in thought, saturated with grace, uncompromising and free of hypocrisy.

THAT is the answer we are looking for. THAT is the answer everyone else desperately needs! We have a suit that can stop all the noise and tune in to real understanding. Lets learn to put on the new self.