Therefore, as God’s chosen people,
holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness and patience.
I glanced outside. The air was heavy and the clouds thick with moisture. I
think I have time to walk before it rains. Halfway around the circle, the heavens opened and down poured the
rain. By the time I got back home,
everything I had on was drenched! I
couldn’t wait to remove my wet clothing.
In order to put on dry clothes, I had to first remove the
soggy ones. In the same way, we must
remove the cumbersome garments of sin that we are wearing so we can put on the
clothes of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience mentioned in
Colossians 3:12. We have a choice. I could have gone that morning without
changing, wearing cold, heavy, restrictive, and wet clothing. I would have dripped puddles of water
wherever I had gone.
We could wear the cold, restrictive clothing of
indifference, meanness, pride, harshness and impatience. It is miserable trying to maneuver in these
clothes because they were not made for us. Unfortunately, we are not the only ones affected. We drip these attitudes in our wake. The people we touch may leave our presence
hurt, dejected, and still needy. That’s
not how people departed from Jesus’ presence. People came to Him in droves and left happy, healed, satisfied, and
whole.
Let’s exchange our indifference for compassion, our meanness
for kindness, our pride for humility, our harshness for gentleness, and our
impatience for patience. Imagine how
much better our relationships with others would be!
Jesus has even more clothes for us! He has
clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness
(Isaiah 61:11). He bestows on us a garment of praise instead of a spirit of
despair (Isaiah 61:3). He removed my sackcloth (mourning) and clothed me with joy (Psalm
30:11). He clothes us with power from on high (Luke 24:49). Who wants to go clothes shopping with Jesus?
Jesus, clothe us with
your Designer-made dresses.
Terri
1 comment:
Love this! <3
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