Halloween In July

Before you delete this email, let’s address the elephant (carved into a pumpkin) in the room. I know, I know, in some church circles, Halloween might as well be a curse word, but we’re not ACTUALLY here to talk about Halloween, so hear me out before you hit the unsubscribe button. (Though for the record, if we run into each other on October 31st you will ABSOLUTELY find me rocking the greatest Spider-Man costume you’ve ever seen.) Halloween (for many) is all about dressing up, playing pretend, and for one night, pretending to be someone else, right? Who didn’t love playing pretend as a kid? How nice would it be to get to be someone else for a day? The crazy part is, when we look at scripture, we discover that in some ways that’s actually a Biblical concept.

You're not going to find a Jesus Costume at Spirit Halloween, but you might want one.

 “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires.” - Romans 13:4

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” - Galatians 3:27

Do you see it? Twice here, as Paul is writing to the church in Rome and the church in Galatia, he says to put on Christ. And when we analyze the root greek word here, it only gets more interesting. The word used here is ἐνδύω, and I know everyone besides me knows what that means, but I had to do some research. What I found was that this word most directly translates to “to put on clothing.” And indeed, that’s the primary way you would find it used throughout scripture. When you read to put on the Armor of God? Yup, ἐνδύω. So what is Paul saying here? Because while I’ll dress up for Halloween, I have no intentions of putting on a Jesus costume, and Jonathan Roumie is already playing the role on The Chosen better than I ever could. So what ARE we to make of it? We can find the answer a little more clearly in 1 Corinthians 11:1, where Paul tells us “Imitate me, as I imitate Christ.” So, okay sure, we’re supposed to be Christlike, but why would we ever dress up as Christ, and what does that mean?

Playing Pretend, so we can be who we aren’t. 

If you’ve already ascended, reached the point of total sanctification, and are living a 100% completely perfect and blameless life, congratulations, you can unsubscribe from this and go hang out with Jesus. If you’re like the rest of us, please keep reading. Have you ever seen a little boy dressed up as Superman? The first thing he does, every time, is strike a perfect pose with his hands on his hips and stick his chest out, ready to save the world. A little girl dressed up as a princess? Suddenly the 6 year old that was coated head to toe in mud an hour ago is the most graceful and elegant picture of womanhood you’ve ever seen. When we play pretend, it changes us, it makes us feel capable of being something we aren’t. So what if, even if we didn’t feel like it, even if we acknowledged our lack, we decided to play dress-up and act like Jesus, even on the days we don’t feel very much like Him? Maybe playing pretend allows us to be more than we currently are, and maybe Paul knew that.

Maybe you SHOULD be fake.

Now hear me out here, should you lie, should you backstab, should you act one way in front of someone and another behind their back? Definitely not. I’m not advocating for what society calls fake, and I’m not advocating for deceitful behavior. (Ever, seriously, lying to people sucks, don’t be fake.) However, what if we decided to put on Christ in the sense that we tried to behave like Him even when we don’t feel like it? The Bible COMMANDS us to love, but you can’t COMMAND a feeling, so what if showing love isn’t a feeling at all? What if we raise our hands in worship in an effort to put on Christ, even when we don’t feel a thing? What if we behaved in a way that showed forgiveness, even if internally we were still wrestling with hatred? True, God’s word says to not have hate in our hearts, to not hold malice against someone, and these are not things we should just let go of striving for, but a transformed heart is a process and often a result of deep striving with the Lord.  

So no, it isn’t fake to recognize that feelings aren’t always the greatest indicator of how we should behave, and sometimes we have to imitate Christ and steer the ship as He would, even if our sanctification isn’t quite there yet. I would challenge you this week to find an area you’ve been struggling, pray, seek, read the word, and identify how Christ would approach the situation, then act to the best of your ability as He would, even if your feelings are screaming against you, ESPECIALLY if your feelings are screaming against you. Sometimes that looks like agreeing to coffee with someone that wronged you, sometimes it looks like reading your Bible when it is the LAST thing you want to do, whatever it is, when you put on Christ, He will empower you to do it. 

So imitate me, as I imitate Paul, imitating Christ…Well, you get the idea, maybe just imitate Christ, I’m still figuring it all out too here. May God bless you this week, and reveal Himself to you in ways you’ve never seen. 

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