The Creator’s Label

“You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete.” (Colossians 3: 9-10, The Message)

We are obsessed with labels. Some designers put them on the outside of their clothing or handbags so that the wearer can advertise the designer’s name.  When I was a teenager, a woman whose children I babysat gave me some expensive designer clothes that were a few years old.  I gave them away when I was finished wearing them, but I kept the labels.  As a joke, I sewed the labels into clothes I made myself over the years.  Fast-forward 20 years to a formal Christmas dinner we attended for my husband’s law firm.  One of Bob’s  partners offered to take my wrap, a floor-length black velvet hooded cape that I made.  He murmured his approval when he saw the (re-purposed) label sewn on the inside of the cape.  We are more impressed by a label from the House of So and So than by a “Handmade by Diane” label.

Clothes designed and made by well-known designers are often made with beautiful fabrics and exquisite workmanship.  But others are just fancy labels on mass- produced average quality clothing.  The Scripture texts for next Sunday encourage us to go for the best label from the house of the Designer—God.

Paul tells us to throw out the old ways with our old clothes and get a new wardrobe from the House of God, the Creator.  His is the best label: “You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete.” (Colossians 3: 9-10, The Message).

God is timeless. When we clothe ourselves in his label, we reflect the fruits of the Spirit, which are timeless as well: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).  Notice that God does the heavy lifting.  He did the heavy lifting when he created the world and everything in it.  His Son did the heavy lifting when he died on the cross for our sins.  And the Spirit does the heavy lifting to give us the fruits of his labor—his work in us.

Someone said that he who dies with the most toys wins.  This assumes that material things have some value to us beyond the grave.  But in the Gospel text for this week, Jesus confirms the truth that he who dies with the most toys is still dead and has made a short-sighted decision to accumulate things to the exclusion of spending time with God: “The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop .  . . ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll gather in all my grain and goods, . . . You’ve got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!’ Just then God showed up and said, ‘Fool!  Tonight, you will die. And your barnful of goods—who gets it?’ “That’s what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God” (Excerpts Luke 12:13 -21, The Message, emphasis added).

Solomon, sometimes referred to as the wisest man who ever lived, said that those who chase after material wealth are chasing after the wind—however, “To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God” (Ecclesiastes 2:26).

Put on the Creator’s label. Steep yourself in his Word.  Call him.  He answers calls 24/7 and he doesn’t screen his calls.  He doesn’t check your address or find out what kind of car you drive before answering your calls.  Your balance sheet is of no interest to him.  He doesn’t care if you buy your clothes at the Dior boutique in Paris, France or at a Walmart in Perris, California.

You can wear the Creator label forever if you believe that Jesus Christ died to save you from your sins. If you truly believe, you will want to be baptized and will listen to his words in the book he inspired many years ago—the Bible.  And you will talk to him regularly to praise and thank him, to seek forgiveness for your mistakes, and to ask him to help and guide you to do his will.

If you follow God’s direction, you will be stamped with his label—the Creator’s label. It’s the best label in the universe. When you wear his label, you will receive all that you need from the Creator himself.

Prayer: Lord God, you are the creator of all things bright and beautiful, kind and loving, tall and majestic, fragrant and lovely, wide and deep, good and wonderful, peaceful and joyful—we thank you and praise you for your wondrous creation and more. We thank and praise you for loving us, for comforting us, for healing us, for giving us people to love and people who love us, and for guiding us. We thank and praise you for taking all of our old rags and burning them when you died on the cross for us.  We thank and praise you for offering us new, beautifully designed and made clothes to wear in our new life with you.  We thank and praise you for who you are—our best friend, Father, Son, Spirit, Savior, Anchor, Advocate, Comforter, Prince of Peace, Healer, Redeemer, the Alpha and the Omega, Creator. Amen

Praying the Scriptures:  Choose a word or phrase each day from the following verses to pray during the coming week.

“To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 2:26)

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”   (Psalm 100)

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

“So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.  Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.” (Colossians 3: 1-3, The Message)

“You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete.”  (Colossians 3: 9-11, The Message)

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.  And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’  But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’  This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”  (Luke 12-18-21)

Diane Cieslikowski Reagan