Feb 13 - Colossians 3:12

As God’s chosen ones, 

holy and beloved, 

clothe yourselves with 

compassion, kindness, 

humility, meekness, 

and patience.

Colossians 3:12

 

“How long did it take you to get dressed and ready for your wedding?” I asked a recent bride. 

 

“Oh, about 7 hours. I woke up at 8 and basically spent the day primping!”

 

“Clothe yourselves.” It’s understandable — and delightful — for a bride to spend hours getting ready for her wedding!

 

But what if we’d spend that many hours – on our wedding day or any married day – “cloth[ing our]selves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience”?

 

Wait! Life is busy. How can we possibly spend an hour a day clothing ourselves with compassion? ... plus an hour a day clothing ourselves with kindness? ... plus an hour clothing ourselves with humility? ... plus an hour each on meekness and patience?

 

Answer: We can’t … unless things like kindness and compassion become part of our character. 

 

Character is not a game of dress-up. It’s not a momentary masquerade. Character is a matter of how we live EVERY hour. 

 

Each moment of each day a husband should strive to dress himself in tenderheartedness and humility … and he should do it as carefully put on his bow tie and tux on his wedding day. A wife should wear patience and gentleness as beautifully as she wore her wedding dress on her wedding day.

 

But remember, primping takes time and attention. And so does building character. We practice kindness … until we become kind. We practice compassion … until we become compassionate. We practice humility … until we become truly humble.

 

And humility is handsome. And kindness is beautiful. It is how we are designed to be. And we aren’t fully human until we are wearing these characteristics. And our marriage isn’t fully dressed until we put on godliness …  and wear it daily. 

 

Question of the Day: Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience: Are they part of who you are? Are you actively working to clothe yourself with these traits, trying to improve? Or are you intentionally excusing your failing in one or more of these areas?

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who likes to be

truly well-dressed