"Put on, Wear Love"

“So chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline.   Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense.  Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you.   And regardless of what else you put one, wear love.  It’s your basic, all-purpose garment.  Never be without it" (Colossians 3:12-14 MSG).

   Paul was never bashful about giving instructions for living the Christians life.   The Message translation above lists Paul’s instructions as garments to wear.  He’s right we can put these on, and we can take them off.  It may sound like a really heavy set of clothes, but this is what the well-dressed Christian will be wearing day to day.  These are not dress-up, going-to-church clothes, but our everyday going-shipping clothes.   

   Let’s take just a few of these to discuss, kindness, humility, second-place, and love.   Don’t we all appreciate kindnesses shown to us, and don’t we feel good when we are kind to someone.  It seems to resonate with the soul.  It is difficult in this world of fast-food, text messages, drive-through banks, and grocery stores that deliver to take the time to be kind.  It often takes extra time to sow kindness, but it is well worth the time spent.

   Humility takes many forms, but of the most often appreciated and least often given is the humility necessary to let someone else speak first—particularly in a group setting.  We all want our point of view to be heard.  We want to show that we may know best, and we want to be sure that others know it.  It’s hard to wait and let others speak.  Someone might say what we were going to say, and then he or she gets credit for it.   If we wait, we might not even get to speak to the issue except in agreement with someone else.

   Taking second-place has become difficult for us because we have been taught since childhood to “Stand up for yourself.”  “Don’t let people take advantage of you.”  In the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 23:11,12, we are told, “But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (NKJV).  In the Kingdom of God giving place to others is the norm.

   God is love.   In John 13:35, Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (NIV)   Are we not all disciples of Jesus, and should we not all love one another?  Romans 13:10 states, “Love does no harm to  a neighbor.  Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”  Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:13:  “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love” (NIV).  I  believe that if we follow the teachings of the Word, and “wear love,” we will be well dressed all the time.  As the   beginning Scripture for this message says, “And regardless of what else you put on, wear love.  It’s your basic, all-purpose garment.  Never be without it.”