From Rags to Riches

 

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.

Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Colossians 3:12-14

Put on love.

After you have ‘gotten yourself dressed’ with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience the ‘overcoat’ we are to put on is love.

The writer tells us that love binds all of these other virtues together in perfect unity.

Two keys in this verse address an issue we sometimes miss.

We are told “…clothe yourselves…” and “…put on love…”

In other words, it is not done for me but I have a choice, a decision if you will, to clothe myself and put on what I present to the world each and every day.

There is an old expression that says: “He wears his heart on his sleeve.”; which means that our emotions and our feelings are readily evident to others.

Our verses today are similar in that if we are “God’s chosen people…” there should be interactions with others that give evidence to Christ in us.

We should be a people dressed in Christ and in His character.

Not just in our hearts and in our personal relationship to Him

but also in how we interact and react to others.

We should be seen and known as compassionate, kind, gentle, patient and humble people.

But above all else, we should put on love.

Love should be so evident to others that it would be like an

overcoat that ties the rest of our ‘wardrobe’ together.

If it is true that “clothes make the man” then

be clothed in Christ as you live your daily life.

We can be guilty of sending mixed messages to people.

We talk like a believer but we dress with anger, pride, coarseness and hatred.

When we put on Christ and His love, when we clothe ourselves with His character and the fruit of His Spirit we find our wardrobe goes from rags to riches.