The Put On

Therefore, God's chosen ones,

Holy and loved,

PUT ON

Compassion, kindness, humility

gentleness and patience

accepting one another and forgiving one another

if anyone has a complaint against another,

just as the LORD has forgiven YOU

so YOU must also forgive....

Colossians 3:12-13

 

 

I was reading my Sarah Young devotional last week and this was one of the verses listed on that particular day.   It stopped me in my tracks.....    and has been repeated in my soul basically each day since my encounter....  

 

 It wasn't the first time I read these verses....  but as God does so many times,  He showed me something new....    

 

For about the last six or seven months I have been arrested,  brought to tears when I have experienced a act of compassion.   It felt so foreign in world that is so self motivated. 

 

Yesterday I was truly convicted,  I see this particular homeless guy just about daily for the last couple of months,  he never speaks to you but will nod his head at you if he looks at you when you pass him.   Yesterday one of the girls I was walking out with said something about him and I found myself saying a judgmental and critical statement.    I made this statement without ever talking to him but just clumping him into a generic group and opinion.

 

My spirit was arrested immediately and I took another look,   

             he was carrying more stuff then he was a month ago....

          he is a lot skinnier than he was when I first saw him....

     the load he was carrying was heavier than the material things that were on his back and in his hands.....   

 

I realized that I had no compassion to start with because it was my daily ins and outs...  and dealing in a world where compassion is like a rare gem rather than a normality, I had not  PUT ON  compassion,   nor had I put on kindness, humility, gentleness nor patience....   I am sure it was sitting where I left it,  but it wasn't on me at that moment and I was convicted and felt exposed from having judgment and criticism on in there place.....    

 

When did I take them off???

 

When did I replace His beautiful attire for that ugly sweater....

Why is criticism and judgment easier to express than compassion  or kindness....  Maybe because there is unforgiveness in my heart...   Not forgiving the person or persons who have not shown me compassion when it was expected....   

Or maybe not being deliberate in putting on these beautiful elements listed....   but in my pondering this verse,  I realize it has to be deliberate,   to act in these qualities is a choice and not a given.   A deliberate action and choice....  It easier to choose the ugly because it makes us fit in but fitting in isn't what I or we have been called to do.   I am reminded of another scripture,  I cant quote it word for word but it basically tells me that I cant be of this world and live in true intimacy with HIM.  I have to choose which path to walk in....   I have to choose to PUT ON His attire....

Judgment and criticism are more natural actions but compassion and kindness are more beautiful acts....    So today I am thankful for His pointing this out to me,  choosing me and loving me....  may I do the same today.