Colossians 3:12 (NIV) – Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
What am I going to wear today? Am I dressed for success or for my own comfort? Good business etiquette requires that you dress for comfort…of your audience. A business person understands that in order to communicate a message that will be received, they first must eliminate obstacles put up by their listener. Since we’ve been trained to judge by appearances and by image, there is a built in difficulty to hear a message if the image doesn’t match our expectations.
The same is true where our spiritual image is concerned. What we dress for, or put on our lives is the outfit that gives our words credibility. Being clothed with compassion as the apostle Paul states above is the key for the accessories of kindness, humility, gentleness and patience to be noticed. What’s more, when clothed with compassion, these accessories shine and accommodate the wearer just as much as the receiver of these traits.
Every day upon waking, these articles of clothing must be fastened with care and deliberation. Facing the mundane, familiar people or troubled acquaintances require that careful thought be placed into the daily wardrobe. Going on a benevolence mission usually doesn’t require the daily deliberation of putting on compassion. A mission is something that you do to help people! It’s easy to put on compassion for something different or something that doesn’t require a lengthy commitment from you. Daily compassion though, is much more difficult to “get up for”.
The wonderful thing about putting on compassion is that over time, that article of clothing no longer becomes something that you simply put on, it becomes something that is part of you.
Reflections
Context of scripture verse – Colossians 3:1-25
Consider:
- Read the context of the verses
Challenge:
- Do you find yourself short of patience with people that you see often? How is your compassion level rate towards your boss or certain family members?
Apply:
- Begin to wake up each morning and pray for those people that you spend a lot of time with. Ask God to bless their lives and direct their steps. For those people that bug you, pray for them too. Don’t ask God to “change” them, ask God to bless them and you will find a change that happens in you.
Note to Self: (reflections, challenges, reminders)