Clothe yourself with Christ

“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” Romans 13:14
Instead of just saying ‘Don’t do this’, everywhere in the New Testament we are told not to do something, we are encouraged to do something else. Here we are told not to indulge in sinful activities (listed in Rom. 13:13) and ‘not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature’. We can’t do anything about the desires that arise (much as we can’t do anything about sinful things we inadvertently happen to see), but we can refuse our flesh to think about them, taking every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:5).
On top of this, we are to clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. Clothing is an outward display. Our lives should show people what Christ is like – not through our literal clothing, so much as through our actions and our attitudes. What we think about all the time is what we will end up doing. This makes it so important to stop thinking about sinful things, and keep thinking about the Lord and what He would have us do. It is a conscious decision, and one that we can act upon now that we have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.