Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Colossians 3:12–14
We start each day with a simple choice: what to put on? We change out of pajamas into the clothes suited for the day’s work. But clothes aren’t the only thing we’re putting on every day. We’re called to put on:
- Compassionate hearts
- Kindness
- Humility
- Meekness
- Patience
- Bearing with one another
- Forgiving each other
- and above all these, put on Love.
We put them on: they definitely don’t come naturally! Day by day, hour by hour, we make the choice to clothe ourselves in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, and love.
It’s easy to define many of these as feelings—compassion and love are things that I feel, right? Perhaps not. Feelings are fickle things. This list isn’t about waiting for the right feeling—it’s about making choices. What am I going to put on?
- Compassion, or a hard heart?
- Meekness, or pride?
- Forgiveness, or grudges?
- Today, will I choose to practice patience?
- Am I going to choose to speak with humility or pride?
What am I going to put on today?
We went to see Tom Hanks in Mr. Rodgers Neighbourhood it really made us realize that we need to treat everyone sincerely, with kindness and love. These things seem to be really lacking in 2020. Great way to start the day to physically visualize putting these qualities in Colossians 3 on before we set out for the day, and if we are not willing to put these qualities on we should just stay home.
This is really helpful to think about at the start of the day and throughout the day. What mindset am I choosing? Thanks for sharing!
Great reminder to start off the day and the week! Thanks