Colossians 3:12 (NET)
“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,”
5 Articles of clothing – Mercy, Kindness, Humility, Gentleness, and Patience.
It is important to note that when the Bible tells us to clothe ourselves with something, it is because we do not already have it on! We are not naturally clothed with humility or kindness, mercy or gentleness, or patience. Instead, we must daily choose to put these characteristics “on” every morning by calling upon the Holy Spirit in recognition of the reality that without Him we will not be walking in these attributes! We must not try to “dress ourselves” with articles of our own choosing (e.g. judgement, rudeness, pride, bitterness, selfishness, etc.), but we must choose to put on the articles God has instructed us to wear.
In the Blog post from September 14th I introduced the idea of clothing ourselves with a heart of mercy and kindness as God’s elect and chosen people who are committed to holiness. If you missed that post, you can read it here: http://worshipeyes.com/are-you-putting-on-the-right-clothes/. In this post I will try to undress (see what I did there? haha) the three more articles of clothing; Humility, Gentleness, and Patience from Colossians 3:12.
Here we go:
Humility
“The reward for humility and fearing the Lord is riches and honor and life.” Proverbs 22:4 (NET)
True humility will lead to happiness in our lives. It is a modest and low view of one’s own importance, according to the Oxford Dictionary. When the Scripture talks of the characteristic of humility, it is not saying to walk around ashamed or downcast (as I would have thought of it, to be humiliated, embarrassed). Humility is the idea of humbleness, having consideration for and understanding of another.
It is a “great paradox in Christianity that it makes humility the avenue to glory.”
Easton, M. G. (1893). In Easton’s Bible dictionary. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Humility is the article that is most (I don’t know if that is how I should put it??) attractive to God in us! Ps. 51:17 says that “The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit— O God, a humble and repentant heart you will not reject.”. Again in James 4:6 it says that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, and in James 4:10 it instructs us to humble ourselves before the Lord and He will exalt (lift up) us! He is moved by humility.
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”
C.S. Lewis
Gentleness
“A gentle response turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath.” Proverbs 15:1 (NET)
This is such a great attribute to have! Unfortunately, in our culture we think of gentleness as weakness, but in the Scriptures this is not the case at all! Christ, the perfect picture of gentleness, is the most Powerful Being in the universe and yet takes on the form of a gentle lamb.
An important concept to grasp from Scripture is that the principles it lays out for us to follow are usually antithetical to what we would understand to be true from the teachings of the culture around us. The Bible tells us that the meek, or gentle, are the ones that will inherit the earth (see Matt 5:5), but society will tell us that it is the aggressive and brash that will conquer! This is an important concept because when have you ever felt comfortable or safe in the presence of someone that will knock over anyone (including you) or anything in order to achieve what they want in life? You don’t. I will say that it is comforting and reassuring when you have someone who will take charge and lead well, but you can do that while still remaining gentle – in fact, gentle leadership is the best sort of leadership because it takes others into consideration!
Think of meekness as a Clydesdale horse in the reigns of its master. Who are we kidding if we think that bit and those little reigns held by a little person will stop that big Draft horse? That horse has the strength to walk away from that person and walk through just about anything that it wants to, but it chooses submission and obedience to the commands of its master. This is a picture of true gentleness, power under restraint for the purposes of accomplishing the will of our Master!
Patience
This article might be the hardest for me to put on every morning (it’s like that sock that you try to slip over your foot in an awkward position because your back is so stinkin stiff that morning. You know it has to go on but sometimes it is awkward and hurtful to do so, and you wait for the last minute to do it because you don’t want to go through the pain of doing it!) Being patient is definitely a struggle for many of us, but it is necessary in order to be Christ-like to a lost world around us.
Patience is defined as the ability to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry, or upset, according to the Oxford Dictionary. Ouch! I have my schedule, don’t mess with it. I have my expectations, don’t disappoint me. I have my image, don’t make me late. I have my peace, don’t bring your trouble to me. Does this seem familiar?
Our God has all the reasons to be intolerant and impatient with you and me, but He has chosen to dress Himself with patience for our sake, so I would say that we should all follow His great example! It says in Romans 2:4 that God has a wealth of kindness, forbearance (a refraining from the enforcement of something (such as a debt, right, or obligation) that is due), and patience. It says in Phil 2:5 that we should have the same attitude as Christ Jesus, and He was full of patience! Paul actually says in 1 Timothy 1:16 that Jesus used him to demonstrate His “total patience”. Peter also says that we can regard the patience of the Lord as salvation itself (see 2 Peter 3:15).
We are commanded multiple times throughout the Bible to be patient with each other, and I again am reminding each of us of this important article of Spiritual clothing! Please, let’s be a people who are characterized by patience, able to withstand any offense that may trouble us for the sake of the Name of our Perfect and Patient Savior – Jesus Christ!
Those are the article of clothes that God has instructed us to wear. So, let’s begin everyday by dressing ourselves with them and living our lives as God would have us do. His ways are always better!
I will discuss the importance of forgiveness in my next post, based on verse 13. I said there are 5 articles of clothing, but in fact there are many more (3 more just from the next few verses!). So please stay with me through these next few posts as we unpack the exhortation of Colossians chapter 3 to those who are called to holy living as God’s dearly loved children (Col 3:12)!
God bless you!
