CLOTHE YOURSELF!

CLOTHE YOURSELF! 
Colossians 3:  9-17

“. . . .since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹ Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Clothing.   It’s a necessary commodity and has been since Adam and Eve first donned fig leaves and animal fur.  It is a subject to which people all over the world pay much attention, even in impoverished areas it seems the attire is well-attended.  So when we are told to ‘clothe’ ourselves in scripture, the metaphor is something most of us can comprehend.  Yet even I skirt right past these scriptural admonitions much of the time.   I would never skirt the issue of clothing myself as I prepare to go to work each day.  I, like you, pay much attention to getting dressed and to looking the best I can.  I care, after all, what others think even if no one comments on how I’m dressed.  Why is it, then, that I can so lightly pass by verses like Colossians 3:12 – “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”?

Amazing, this spiritual clothing that affects all of society in ways my physical dress never will.  The son of a co-worker I have never met flashed through our offices late yesterday with mom trailing behind instructing him not to open doors, not to be so inquisitive, to stop and shake hands, to introduce himself.  He was not a child but an older teen and hanging around his neck was a sign that branded him – “Autistic”.   Why did he have to wear a sign like that, I wondered?   Why single him out like that – and yet I understood that his erratic wanderings in the safety of our own offices were probably looked on by the outside world with just a little disdain.  Did I?  If I am clothed with compassion it will come through loud and clear to that mom who has raised her son in a world critical of behavioral differences.  If I am clothed with kindness, that young man will recognize how I am dressed, as will he comprehend my gentleness and patience and the love of Jesus will pour the oil of joy and love all over the atmosphere! 

If I am to live the life of Jesus on this earth, if I am to affect those around me with His character and qualities – compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience – I have to actively participate in my own spiritual grooming.  The writer of this instruction does not tell me to stand still so that God can dress me and get me all prepped for my day.  I am told to clothe myself, and I want to do so simply because I am one of God’s chosen, holy and dearly loved people who gets to be the demonstration of His love each moment of each of my days on this earth.  What better clothing could I possibly attend to as I begin my day today? 

Lord, I want to be a humble, caring, compassionate, kind and gentle person as I step into this world today that is oh so much more interested in physical dressings than dressings that can affect a life for all eternity.  Moth and rust certainly does corrupt all other manner of clothing – but they can never destroy the works You do in and through me when I am spiritually dressed to meet the day.   So right now I clothe myself in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Right now I put on the covering of love, that  the world might know Your great love.  Amen and amen.