Colossians 3: 12-14, “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.”
God’s chosen ones! What a treasured phrase as a believer.
We are chosen and wanted by our Savior. We are holy and beloved. Not because of anything we have done, but because of who He is.
Chapter 3 of Colossians is an excellent passage to read and know if you are unsure of what your life should look like to others after you’ve accepted Christ. Verse 12 says to put on these things. Just like you do with your clothes each day, take off the dirty and put on the clean. Put off your old self, and put on your new self in Christ.
It is a daily choice to put off our sin. Even more so, it is a moment by moment choice to turn away from sin and choose the righteous path. It isn’t easy. But Jesus didn’t say we could or should, do it without Him. He wants to be the strength that we depend on when putting on this list each day.
- Compassionate hearts
- Kindness
- Humility
- Meekness
- Patience, bearing with one another
- Forgiving
- And love, which binds everything together.
If we are loving our neighbor (i.e. our spouse, our kids…) as ourselves, we are going to be doing all of the things listed here. Let’s lean into Jesus today. Take time today to list these words out, define them. Ask the Lord to grow you in each of these ways.
ACTION STEPS with your kids: Read Colossians 3 together as a family. Talk through each of these characteristics. Have each person talk about which is easy for them and which is hard, and why. Pray together asking the Lord to grow our dependence on him and to work in our lives to grow that specific characteristic. Encourage one another this week!
