Clothe yourself with Christ...

Col. 3:12 -Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

I think getting dressed in the morning is important.  It certainly affects the rest of the day for better or worse.  And I love how Paul used this idea of clothing as a metaphor of being deliberate about your character and posture toward life.  How you clothe yourself at the beginning of the day makes or breaks whether we redeem the time allotted us.  So I thought I’d try and clothe myself with just these 5 attributes that Paul mentions to the church of Colossae…

Compassion – I want to let my heart break for people and what they’re going through.  I don’t want to grow callused to the pain others have been through or are going through.  I want to look into people’s eyes and look for the glazed-over look, the hollowed-out look.  The light’s-on-but-nobody’s-home look.  I want to even feel how others have hurt me and instead of retaliating or writing them off, I want to wonder where it comes from—what brokenness caused them to act out as they did.  It seems that when I see people’s actions as a by-product of their past, I’m more benevolent.  I want a soft heart toward humanity.  I want God’s compassion to fill me today.

Kindness – I want to fight the pull to be hard and cold toward others.  I want my gestures and countenance to be gracious instead of merciless.  I want to remember that everyone I meet each day is fighting some sort of battle and to treat them tenderly, even giving them space to make a misstep or mistake because something is triggering some sort of cause-and-effect inside of them. When treated poorly, I want to respond kindly…heaping coals of kindness on others as the Bible encourages.  I want the same kindness of God that looks past our immaturity and immorality and offers us mercy to fill my very own brain and body today.  I want God’s kindness to fill me today.

Humility – I want to be ever mindful of who I really am apart from the good grace so many who have poured into me over the years and the amazing grace of God who has rescued me. When I’m prone to take credit, seek recognition, or demand reward for what I’ve done, I pray for a heart that bows low and sees anything I’ve done as a privilege and a pleasure.  I never what to think I’m above anyone or that anything is beneath me…I want to be a servant of all, fulfilling the dream, even mandate, of God for anyone who would follow him as his disciple.  I want to consider others as better than myself letting the same mind be in me that was in Christ Jesus. (Phil 2) I want God’s humility to fill me today.

Gentleness – I want my spirit to treat others with tenderness.  In a world filled with tough and transactional encounters, I want others to leave a conversation with me feeling like I handled their hearts with loving care.  People are fragile creatures and many of them are hanging by a thread on the inside no matter what their exterior indicates, and I want to recognize the glory of the human heart—its worth, its preciousness.  As I view people and situations through the lens of divinity, I see the image of God in everyone and I’m able to treat people with the dignity they deserve as the Creator’s idea and offspring.  So no matter their behavior, they are worthy of lavish love and a second chance.  I want God’s gentleness to fill me today.

Patience – I want more meekness the older I get.  I want to give people the benefit of the doubt instead of approaching people as guilty until proven innocent.  I struggle with demanding a high standard of performance for others, and myself, so this patience thing has to start with me toward me, and spill out onto others.  I don’t want people to feel uptight around me or on guard, I truly want this spirit of long-suffering to permeate my life so that anger and frustration aren’t what I’m known for by those who interact with me.  God has been so patient with me over the years when I’ve given him so many reasons to just give up on me and distance himself from me.  He has been so forgiving, the least I can do is offer a bit of that to those who cross me.  This one might be the hardest for me, but that means it might be the most important piece of clothing to put over my heart at the onset each day.  I want God’s patience to fill me today.