because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ -by grace you have been saved-,
raised us up with him,
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;
it is not from works, so no one may boast.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them.
Ephesians 4:2-10
It is clear from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians that God wants the divine light to bounce off us, instead of bend around us. Paul says that “God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ."
So we are “clothed” with Christ, writes Paul, and we “put on” the Lord Jesus Christ — this is what it means to be a properly dressed disciple of Christ. Jesus becomes for us a Visibility Cloak, one that reflects the light of God and makes us visible to the world.
For our purpose, reflecting light and being visible is good.
It’s all about putting on Jesus.
All we have to do is wrap ourselves up in Him.
God’s not interested in hiding us, and he certainly doesn’t want his light to bend around us. Instead, he clothes us with Christ so that we will be visible signs of his presence in the world. By grace, God moves us from darkness to light, from invisibility to visibility, from an undercover existence to an elevated seat in the heavenly places. He takes pleasure in showing us off, as signs of how loving and powerful and creative he is.
