This morning’s word is The Bags You Bring In.
The anchor verses are Daniel 1:8 and Colossians 3:12.
On Sunday at a stadium near Dallas, Japan played the Netherlands to a two-to-two draw in the World Cup. In the eighty-eighth minute, a Japanese player headed in the tying goal, and the section filled with Japanese supporters erupted. They waved blue plastic bags over their heads in celebration. The match ended minutes later.
Then the supporters did what they have done at every World Cup since 1998. They stayed in their seats after the final whistle and used those same blue bags to collect their own trash. They left their section cleaner than they found it. The bags that waved in joy became the bags that carried out the garbage.
The world first noticed in 1998, in France. Japan was eliminated in the group stage that year. The fans cleaned anyway, and have every four years since, win or lose. One supporter explained the teaching he grew up with. Leave a place cleaner than when you arrived.
Here is the part worth seeing. The bags came in with them. Before the first whistle, before they knew whether they would win or lose, the supporters had already brought what they would need to clean. The discipline was decided before the match. They were dressed for the end at the beginning.
That is the thread this morning. What you put on in the morning is what you carry into the test. The believer dresses for the day before the day arrives.
The Day Six reading in the ten-day plan from ResLife Church on overcoming temptation names two men who came dressed. Daniel, taken as a slave into a foreign court, “resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food.” He decided before the food was set in front of him. That same resolve later carried him into a lions’ den rather than stop his prayers. And Joseph, when Potiphar’s wife seized his garment, was so completely pre-decided that he left the garment in her hand and ran. The reading sets it against King Rehoboam, who “did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.” Rehoboam did not plan to do wrong. He simply had not decided in advance to do right. He came to the day with empty hands.
The supporters in Dallas did not decide to clean when the whistle blew. They decided when they packed the bags.
Peyton Jones and Kris Langham, in the Honor step of their disciple-making plan Discipology, anchor the same teaching in Paul’s letter to the Colossians. The believer takes off the old self and puts on the new. Colossians chapter three: “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” They use the image of a name tag. Christ’s name is on yours. Whatever you do, you do in HIS name, which means HIS reputation goes with your conduct into every room. You put the name on in the morning and wear it into the test.
Ignatius of Antioch, the second-century bishop and martyr who wrote seven letters to early churches on his way to Rome and execution, names the same garment in chapter eight of his letter to the Trallians. Clothe yourselves with meekness. Become imitators of HIS love. He adds the reason the world is watching. A few foolish men in the household give outsiders an occasion to blaspheme the name. The meekness is what the watching world reads about the One whose name you carry.
The Day Eleven reading on healing from ResLife Church carries the same dynamic onto the tongue. Faith comes by hearing the Word, and what fills the heart comes out of the mouth. In Numbers chapter fourteen, ten spies declared the giants and died in the wilderness they spoke over themselves. Two spies declared the promise and inherited it. You fill the heart with the Word in the morning so that the Word is what speaks when the test arrives.
The garment is not the gift. The pre-deciding is what GOD has already invited you into. HE does not wait until the test to offer you the clothing. The Spirit hands it to you in the morning. Daniel had it on. Joseph had it on. The supporters had the bags in hand before the first goal.
What did you put on this morning? What is in your hands as you walk into the day? The test is coming, as it always does, and you do not rise to the test. You fall to the level of what you already put on. Put on the compassion. Put on the meekness. Fill the heart with the Word. Bring the bags in with you.
I am not here to prove myself. I am here to make HIM visible.