“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies (compassion), kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13. Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you so also do ye. 14. And above all these things put on charity (love), which is the bond of perfectness.”
Clothing styles come and go. Every season brings its changes, but sometimes what went out of style thirty years ago comes back in style. There is one wardrobe that never changes and that is our spiritual wardrobe. Let me explain: Paul wrote “put on,” which refers to putting on the spiritual wardrobe like we put on our clothes. The only difference is that these spiritual wardrobe items become a part of our lives as we practice them unlike our clothes which we take off. As God’s elect, holy and beloved people, there are some expectations of what we should “put on,” or wear, in our lives. Paul mentioned “bowels of mercies.” This is the King James Version’s way of saying that we should put on compassion. Compassion was illustrated in the Bible by Jesus as He dealt with people on a daily basis. Jesus gave us a parable about a Samaritan who helped a man who had been beaten and left half-dead on the side of the road. You will remember that a priest and Levite passed the man by. Jesus said that the “Good Samaritan” had compassion for the man. That was the difference between the priest, Levite and the Samaritan. It should be the difference in our lives as well. Paul mentioned “kindness.” Kindness is compassion in action. We are not to just feel sorry for people, but we are to actually help them. If we are truly compassionate, we will be kind as well. We can again refer to the priest, Levite and Samaritan. Which one was kind? Of course it was the Samaritan. Let us ask ourselves if we are kind to people that we encounter each day? Are we kind to people with whom we attend church? Do we speak kindly to people we encounter? These are good questions and we should be able to answer them in the affirmative. Paul mentioned “humbleness of mind” and “meekness.” This means that we are not to build ourselves up in our minds over other people. If you will think about it, to be humble of mind and meek demands that we have a clear sense of self and who we are in Jesus. It means that we are so secure in him that we do not have to have the upper hand over people in our lives. In other words, it means that we do not have to compete with others because we already feel like winners because of our relationship with Jesus. Our security in Jesus gives us security within ourselves. Do you have this security? Also, we need to remember that Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” We can take Him at this word on that. Paul mentioned “ longsuffering, forbearance and forgiveness”, and, “above all, love.” This means that we do not just “put up” with people, but that we are willing to be patient and forbearing with them. Not only that, but we are to forgive them if they have offended us in any way. You will agree that this isn’t always easy, given personality differences and bad attitudes that we encounter. How can we do this? Well, “above all” if we love people, we will find it easier to be patient and forbearing with them, and that forgiveness will not be as difficult. Believe me, it will not always be easy, but think of how much better our lives and relationships would be if we were more patient, forbearing, forgiving, and loving with people. Well, there is your “spiritual wardrobe.” I think you will agree that we if we dress ourselves up in this wardrobe we will be better people and certainly better servants of God. Try it! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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