Let People See Jesus In You
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." -- Colossians 3:12
Paul certaintly set high standards for all of us, didn't he? I guess he wanted us to strive to be like Jesus. That's a good thing. It's just that in order to do that we've got to understand the meaning behind those words.
What exactly is compassion? The dictionary says it's a feeling of pity that makes us want to help or show mercy. So if we're compassionate we should want to help others and, indeed, we should help them. We should refrain from hate and unkind words and instead show Christ's mercy -- just like He has shown us mercy.
Paul also calls us to kindness. Most folks probably think they're kind. They would likely insist that they can be gentle and considerate in how they treat others. Sure. Most of us can be kind. But are we? Did you let that big SUV in front of you today when everyone was merging in to one lane in that road construction area? Did you hold your tongue when the neighbor's children messed up your flower bed while they were playing ball? Did you show kindness to the waitress who mixed up your lunch order or did you treat her to an attitude? Kindness isn't just for the people closest to us. It isn't just something we do in church. Kindness matters most when we use it in how we treat all people we encounter in our day.
All that talk about attitude brings up another one of Paul's subjects: humility. The dictionary calls humility a humble condition or attitude of mind. Okay. So what is humble? Having or showing a modest estimate of one's own importance. Not being proud. Not being large or showy. Being of low social or political rank. In other words, not tooting your own horn and thinking yourself superior to others. That certainly goes against what we're being taught to do in today's world. Of course, humility might make us get along with each other a whole lot better. That could only be good.
Next, Paul mentioned gentleness. We're to be mild, moderate, not rough or severe. Another kind of gentleness is when a horse trainer gentles a colt. I would imagine we could calm a great many situations by being gentle instead of harsh. What do you think?
Paul left patience until the end. I don't know if he did it intentionally or not. Patience is the calm endurance of hardship or annoyance, inconvenience or delay. It's also perseverance. It's easy to be patient when life is going exactly like we want it to and people are doing exactly what we want them to do. Of course, when does life ever go exactly as we planned? There will always be a long line at the grocery store when we're running late. A co-worker will always need to talk when we're facing a tight deadline. The kids will always be rowdy when we've got a headache. The list goes on and on. We can't change life's imperfections. We can change how we react. We can take a deep breath, say a quick prayer and respond with patience instead of anger and frustration.
Paul gave us some pretty awesome advice. Putting it into practice on a daily basis isn't easy. In fact, I don't think it's something we could ever do alone. It's a good thing we don't have to. Jesus gave us a good example of how to live and how to treat others. He's right there beside us, guiding and strengthing us, as He walks us all the way home .
No comments:
Post a Comment