This Memorial Day has been spent having coffee and a "danish" with my man at our favorite coffee shop, going for a ride with the top down enjoying the gorgeous blue sky with puffy white clouds and warm sunshine, relaxing at home, working in the garden... After our outing this morning, though, I settled down to what is supposed to be my daily devotional. I missed yesterday, so I did two today, but I must say yesterday's devo still has me thinking late into the afternoon.
I'm going through Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest. The May 27 scripture reading is from Luke 24:49 which says, "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." Mr. Chambers always quotes from KJV, so I always have other translations on hand to compare with. Both the NIV and the NASB use "until you have been clothed with power." Since I really didn't know what "endued" meant, I looked it up.
en-due: verb
1. to invest or endow with some gift, quality or faculty.
2. to put on; assume.
3. to clothe.
In the verses preceding verse 49, Jesus is telling the disciples about what is to come (death on the cross and His resurrection), and that they will preach repentance and forgiveness in His name to all nations because of it. Then He tells them to wait in Jerusalem until He sends what the Father promised...the Holy Spirit. Hence, how we can be "endued" or "clothed with power." Mr. Chambers says that "the reception of the Holy Spirit is the maintained attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive quickening life from the ascended Lord."
The idea of being "clothed" with power reminded me of other scripture talking about how we are to "clothe" ourselves, so I did some digging. After searching for the word "clothe" in the New Testament (mainly because I knew the scriptures I was remembering were in the New Testament), five verses/passages stood out to me, each one containing the word "clothe." I looked in the Online Greek Interlinear Bible to see if they truly all come from the same word. Here's what I found:
Matthew 6:25-30 - "Therefore...do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear...See the lilies of the field...they do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon...was dressed like one of these...If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today ad tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"
Greek words (transliteration)[GWT]: endusEsthe and endumatos.
Romans 13:14 - "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." GWT: endusasthe.
1 Corinthians 15:54 - "When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'" GWT: endusEtai.
Galatians 3:26,27 - "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized in Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." GWT: enedusasthe.
Colossians 3:12 - "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." GWT: endusasthe.
Do you notice a form of the root word "endu" in every one of those? I guess that's where we get the word endue and why King James used it. The Greek Interlinear Bible defined the italicized words above (in one form or another) as "to put on or slip into." No wonder we are not to worry about what we wear, for if we are in Christ, then we have put on the all-powerful, imperishable Lord Jesus Christ who is the epitome of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Being clothed in Christ...now that sounds comfortable!
