Wednesday (w5,d3) / Put It On
Read: Colossians 3:12-14; 1 Corinthians 13:1-10 SOAP: Colossians 3:12, 14
Colossians 3:11-14 (12, 14)11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.
Our new life in Christ is not based on our race or our adherence to the law, how educated we are, or how we live. Because bondservants were common in his day, Paul even wrote that it didn’t matter whether they were slaves or free… what mattered, and what he desperately wanted them/us to understand, is that in Christ all are equal. In Him, we are new creations, unified in Him. Friends, don’t miss how Paul describes us here:
- Chosen: by God
- Set Apart: for God
- Dearly Loved: by God
As such, we are to look, live, and love like Him. If you’re wondering what that looks like, remember ~ Christ was God in the flesh. Scripture paints a very vivid picture of who and what Christ was and how and why He lived. He was merciful, kind, gentle, patient, humble – even to the point that He took on the form of a servant (Phil 2:7-8), and He was abounding in love all the way to the cross, which He endured for us. In this, He made a way where there was no way – not only for us to come to the Father, but to be unified as one body made new in Him, set apart for Him, and dearly loved by Him.
While we might be tempted to say I just cannot live up to His standards, or to think for a minute that He doesn’t really expect us to be like Him, let’s think about some of the things we have been told in the Scriptures…
- “I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. John 13:34
- “Be holy, for I am holy” is a foundational command found in the Hebrew Bible (in books like Leviticus 19:2) and repeated in the New Testament (1 Peter 1:16), calling believers to reflect God’s pure and set-apart character in their daily lives. (Gotquestions.org)
- “If you love me, keep my commandments” John 14:15.
Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any affection or mercy, 2 complete my joy and be of the same mind, by having the same love, being united in spirit, and having one purpose. 3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. 4 Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. 5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, 6 who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,7 but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. 8 He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death —even death on a cross! Phil 2:1-8
Friends, I know I use this next reference from 2 Peter all the time, but it bears repeating, and our minds need to know it and our mouths should say it often: God has given us everything we need for living as He has called us to live (my paraphrase). Whether it is loving others like Jesus did, forgiving as He has forgiven, thinking like Him, serving like Him, submitting like Him, dying to self (a.k.a: putting off the old nature and putting on tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience…). No, living a life of godliness isn’t always easy – actually, it is rarely easy – but He has equipped us for it, so let’s commit to remember that we have been chosen by God, set apart for God, dearly loved by Him, and equipped by and for Him.
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT
Response of Worship
Response of Prayer
Father, God ~ thank You for choosing me and setting me apart for You. Thank you for loving me so dearly and equipping me so fully to do all that You have called me to do as Your child. Thank You for setting me free from the bondage of the sinful nature and making me alive in Christ! For whoever the Son sets free is truly free, and it is an indescribable joy to be able to say ~ I’m a child of God! Please help me to faithfully clothe myself with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. May the mindset of Christ rule and reign over my thinking, words, and actions.
Reflection and Application
- What do you think a life of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience looks like?
- How can we strive to live like this every day?
The More We Know
(From the LGG Journal, Christ Is All I Need, p 152)
Reading today’s passage makes us realize how far we fall short of all that we are meant to be. How I would love to be more merciful, kind, humble, gentle, and patient. How I long to be able to truly love others.
This is when we have to be reminded of what Paul said earlier: “For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, and you have been filled in him” (Colossians 2:9-10). When God calls us to put on the clothes of Christ-likeness, He Himself will give us these clothes. They are already hanging in the wardrobe of our new, risen life. We only have to take them out and put them on.
However, a righteous life doesn’t happen automatically. If it did, Paul wouldn’t urge us to “put it on.” We “put on” the virtues of Christlikeness when we trust Him to provide all the love, mercy, and patience we need in any given circumstance.
In faith, we need to ask God for it. And then, in obedience, we simply go and do as we are told, loving others in word and deed, and thanking Him in advance for providing us with everything we need.
Everything God demands of us, He Himself wants to accomplish in and through us (Philippians 2:13). God calls you to love others. Ask Him for that love. When you walk by faith like this, moment by moment, day by day, Jesus Himself will increasingly live the life of love through you.
And never forget that you are God’s elect, holy and dearly loved by Him. He has chosen you because He loves you. He will continue His work of sanctification in you. He won’t give up on you.
Heavenly Father, thank you for choosing and loving me. Please fill me with your love so that I can go and love others. Amen.
Me From the Inside Out 