Verse for the week of December 27th:
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves
with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.
(Colossians 3:12)
St. Paul uses this image of clothing oneself. Just like in the morning, you get up and put on clothes and these clothes can sometimes tell others something about you. If you get up and put on your work clothes, it may reveal what you do for a living (e.g. if you wear scrubs you are probably in the medical field). St. Paul is telling all those who read his letter that as the body of Christ, we need to put on certain clothes. This is not a literal clothe, but attitudes.
St. Paul says to put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. That as those who are chosen by God, we need to present ourselves in such a way that when we encounter others they should experience these attitudes of compassion, kindness, etc.
This is a tall order. It is difficult to always project these attitudes (some more difficult then others). I know for me sometimes it is difficult to clothe myself with patience. When I am going places or at a stores, I know that I am not always the most patient person. While I know that I can not make the people in front of me go faster or make the employee running the cash register work faster, sometimes it just really bugs me that the line I always seem to pick is the slowest line in the whole store. {Note—this is an inherited trait as my father seems to also pick the slowest line as well.}
One of the lessons from this verse from St. Paul is that what counts is not the things that we can not control—the pace of the line, etc—but the things that we can control. And what we can control is our behavior and our attitudes. Thus, St. Paul is exhorting us to exhibit these characteristics when dealing with others. We should be compassionate, patient, kind, humble and meek.
One way that may be helpful in remembering these attitudes is that just like when we go somewhere this winter and you put on a coat to keep yourself warm, so we need to remember to put on the coat of patience or the coat of compassion or the coat of kindness whenever we are dealing with others. When we wears these coats, others will be able to see our faith and how knowing Jesus and putting our trust in Christ changes us and makes a difference in our lives.
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