11 The Old Pair of Pants
Jerry came home from work one day and found his wife Lisa doing some spring cleaning. She was sorting out old clothes to either donate to their local Goodwill store or to throw away. However, Jerry noticed that Lisa was throwing out his favorite old pair of pants.
"Honey," Jerry asked, "you know that is my favorite pair of pants, right?"
"I know," Lisa replied, "but they're so old and worn out."
Jerry ran over and grabbed the pants. "No, they're still good to wear!"
"Come on, Jerry, these pants?" Lisa looked at him incredulously.
"Lisa, these pants still fit me very well and are very comfortable," insisted Jerry.
"Jerry, just look at these pants!" Lisa grabbed the pants back from Jerry. "These pants were dark blue when you first got them! They're faded so much that they're practically white now! Just buy another pair of pants, honey."
"Babe, I'm telling you I can still wear these pants!" Jerry tried to grab them back from Lisa but missed. "I can still wear them around. Besides, the faded look is fashionable these days!"
Lisa got a little angry and showed the many holes in Jerry's old pair of pants. "Jerry, look at these pants. There's holes everywhere in these pants. Your pants are practically falling apart at the seams. If you wore these pants, people could see your underwear in several places!"
"Um, er, ah, a little aeration is good, " stammered Jerry, "I don't have to wear them in public. How about just around the house?"
"Jerry," Lisa glowered, "Do you want to sleep on the couch?"
"Okay, okay, you win. I will buy a new pair of pants." Jerry took the old pair of pants from Lisa and tossed them into the trash pile.
Lisa smiled and hugged Jerry, "See? That wasn't that hard? I'll even buy you a new pair of pants."
Jerry laughed and said, "All right, let's go shopping!"
People have a tendency to cling on to certain aspects of their old sinful life even after accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Paul the Apostle once commented that we have to bury our old life of sin and embrace new life in Christ, because we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness. Pray to God for the strength to overcome old temptations and throw away that old pair of pants once and for all!
- Recommended reading: Romans 6:11-21
