Compassion
Put On… – Part IV

Scripture Reading: Colossians 3:8-17

Key Verse: Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

It is time to get honest with ourselves if we plan to grow more and more like Jesus as we walk with Him. Take a few minutes and think about what kind of “clothes” you normally put on. Before the Apostle talked about the “clothes” we should put on, he describes the “clothes” our world normally wears:

But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices. (Colossians 3:8-9).

With brutal honesty, what have your interactions with your family, friends, and co-workers been like in the last week or so? Can you remember times of anger, even rage? In some conversations, have you allowed yourself to slander someone that has hurt you? Has there been a time when you felt you needed to lie to make yourself look better or get out of some trouble?

All these practices are not things Christ put in you. He wants you, as His follower, to stop wearing these “clothes”. These “clothes” hurt the cause of Christ and His Kingdom. As believers, we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, according to the Apostle Paul:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed — not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence — continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12).

I do not pretend to know everything that Paul meant by these words. But I do know that it is time for all believers to take seriously the teachings of Jesus and live them out every day!

I might be wrong, but I sense that too many Christ-followers find themselves caught up in the political fighting of our time and have forgotten to put on the “clothes” that Christ died to give them.

We can speak of our political beliefs without being mean or angry with other people who disagree. We can like the leaders of our choice without being hateful toward the leaders of the other party.

Our spouses may seem to treat us unfairly or even hatefully, but God still holds us responsible to respond with the compassion that He shows us every day.

If we have any hope for a good tomorrow, now is the time for honesty in God’s church.

Father, I want all Your people to be agents of change through Your love. Help that to start with me. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.