Ep 28: Costume Christianity

Speaker1: Well, good morning and happy Halloween. I'm Daniel Delp and this is for your Sunday morning drive. The short podcast designed to help put you in a Colossians three two mindset and help prepare your mind for worship on those hectic Sunday mornings. We are brought to you in partnership with the Ministry League Network of podcasts. You can always find a link to their YouTube channel in the show notes for every episode, or you can check them out at Ministry league.com or download their app for over 50 great podcasts designed to help encourage you and edify you spiritually. If you are venturing out later this week to do some trick or treating, be safe and make some great memories. And speaking of treats, if you'd like to treat the podcast, it would mean a lot to me if you took a moment and shared us with a friend and left us a rating and review, I so appreciate you making us a part of your weekly routine. And I do think that gets all the announcements out of the way for this morning. Let's get into it. This is episode 28 Costume Christianity. Let's go to church.

Trick or treat.

Speaker1: Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. Cool weather, spooky vibes, cool costumes, free candy. I mean, come on, what more could you ask for? And it was great as a kid, but I am absolutely loving seeing Halloween from the perspective of a parent. And the question, what do you want to be for Halloween? This year is taken seriously in the D'alpe house. I think my kids tend to think, man, I've got one shot to choose the perfect costume. Don't blow it. And I've noticed something and this isn't some profound thing. And I think we all kind of know this, but kids don't pick costumes that they hate. They want costumes of they want to dress up like, and they want to emulate those things, people and characters that they admire, the things they idolize, the things they look up to. For instance, think back on your own childhood. Does that hold true for you as well? I mean, it did for me and I loved it. You're telling me that for a whole night, I could dress up as a Power Ranger, Batman, a Lord of the rings character, or Indiana Jones. I remember thinking that when I'm wearing that costume, I'm not just pretending, but I am that character. Then at the end of the night, the costume comes off. The mask gets cast aside, and I'm me again.

Speaker1: But what about as an adult? No, not putting on a costume for Halloween. Although if you still do, there's no judgment here. More power to you. But in what we put on in our Christian walk. Because the danger can be that maybe we just put Christ on a few times a week for worship or for Bible study, and then we come home and we take off the mask, and we are just as rotten and just as worldly as usual. Do we view our Christianity and our Christ likeness as just plain pretend when we're in the public eye, or are we truly committed? Romans 1312 through 14 says, therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and in drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife, in and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Ephesians four 2224 likewise says that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God, and has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Speaker1: Ephesians 611 continues this idea where it says, put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. The question comes to us, do we put on Christ? Do we put on the new man? Do we put on the armor of God with the intent that they can't just be removed at the end of the day, or when things get hard? Do we truly desire to put on Christ and live according to his word, to clothe ourselves in righteousness? Or are we just content to wear the trappings of this world? Friends, let's not play games when it comes to putting on Christ. Don't wear them like a mask. Christianity is not a costume. Be authentic. Be real. Be holy. His. Because the alternative to being and belonging to and clothing ourselves in Christ. Now that's something that's truly scary. Well, those are my thoughts for your Sunday morning drive. Now it's time to hear yours. Our discussion questions for today are. What was your favorite Halloween memory? Why do we sometimes struggle to consistently live for Jesus? Do we desire to be like the world more than we desire to be like Jesus? And lastly, what can we do to make sure our kids love Jesus and want to be just like him?