“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues out on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
Colossians 3:12-14
The fashion industry likes to get together regularly and show off their high fashion designs – nothing wrong with that, if you can afford those kinds of clothes and are built to wear them. Give me a pair of jeans, some boots and a t-shirt and I am happy and comfortable. As I was thinking about clothes it dawned on me that while wearing clothes is a good thing, the material clothes that we put on, or that fashion models wear on the runway aren’t life changing, they won’t make the world a better place. So I wondered if the Scriptures had anything to say about clothes. Turns out the Bible has quite a bit of “fashion” sense.
According to Biblegateway.com the New International Version uses clothe or some variation of the word 225 times. Sometimes it is practical like when God made clothes for the newly fallen Adam and Eve. A couple of times clothes are used to trick someone into doing something. In the Old Testament people regularly tore their clothes as a sign of deep sorrow and repentance. In the New Testament this Biblical “fashion” sense is more about God’s provision and character. This week’s passage is a great example. The Apostle Paul regularly talks about how followers of Jesus, should be clothing themselves with Christ and in this week’s passage he is encouraging the believers in Colossi by explaining to them what the divine outfit of Christ looks like.
The first piece of this divine wardrobe is compassion – Jesus has the amazing ability to meet people right where they are, in the midst of their pain and then He acts to make it better for them. The next part of the outfit is kindness – really just to treat people really well, even when maybe they don’t deserve it. Kindness is followed with an article of clothing that can be very hard for most of us to put on or even to really understand – humility. Humility is one of the foundational pieces of this line of clothing – it’s not about letting people walk all over us or being self depreciating, rather humility gives us the strength to put others before our selves – to lift them up and then help them up even higher. This next piece of clothing – gentleness is sometimes seen as a weakness in our daily lives, but in this wardrobe of Christ, gentleness is strength under control – especially under control of the Holy Spirit. Just a couple more pieces and our wardrobe will be complete. Patience is another one of those clothing pieces that we often struggle to put on. I like one of the definitions I found for patience it reads: “quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence” – this definition sounds like some of the accessories we have available to go with our wardrobe. Finally, there is one piece that holds every other piece together and makes them all work together, no matter the season of life they are being worn in. It is the most important part of the wardrobe – it is love. Love allows us to wear all the other parts – to be thoroughly clothes in Christ.
Each piece of Christ’s fashion line has the power to make some positive life change – but wear the whole outfit every day and lives will be changed – the world can be changed.
So what about it? This week will you make a divine fashion statement? Will you help others discover the best designer? Remember every outfit is custom made everyday – all you have to do is get dressed.
A Prayer
Father – thank you that Your Word is supernatural and practical. Thank you that it speaks to weighty matters like redemption, forgiveness and divine judgment. Thank you that it gives us fashion advice that is always in vogue and never goes out of style. Help us each day to clothe ourselves with Christ by putting on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and love. May the world be drawn to Christ’s fashion line and changed because of it. In the name of Jesus, our fashion expert, we pray – Amen.
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