Colossians 3 12 Therefore, as God’s CHOSEN people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
For a Christian to live out their chosen status means that they will wear the kind of clothes that represent the One who has chosen them. I love the heading of Colossians chapter 3. In the translation I am using, the heading in my Bible says this: Living as Those Made Alive in Christ
If we are made alive in Christ, what are we before we encounter Christ? Dead, right? We are born physically alive, but spiritually dead. We are born without the life of Christ. We are born cut off from God’s grace and power. You might think of it this way: We are born wearing grave clothes, clothes that must be taken off in order for us to live as those who have been made alive in Christ. I John 3:14 says that when we become Christians, we pass from a state of death into a state of life. In other words, we truly come alive when we come alive in Jesus Christ. Paul says here in Colossians 3 that since you have been made alive in Jesus, you ought to live as if that is the case.
Here’s a list of the “clothes” we are to put on. I’d like to call them “grace clothes.” compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Each one of these attitudes, each of these characteristics is part of the Jesus’ life. Each one has transforming power. Remember, Jesus brought transformation to every person, to every situation He encountered. Those who live as alive in Christ are to wear His attributes. We are to bring life to dead places and hope to those in despair. How far would compassion and kindness go to ease the conscious of the person who is down and out and is beaten down so low that they stay down because they don’t want to look up for fear others are looking down on them? How could we change someone’s story by reserving judgment and by letting our hearts be moved by someone who might find themselves in a bad way?
When you exercise compassion and kindness, when mercy is your go-to, people are going to be helped. If you can put yourself in the shoes of someone who is the product of pain and other people’s selfish choices, if you can think about what it might be like to be deserted by family and friends and have no one to lean on or how hard it would be to grow up without responsible and loving parents or whatever…we could list thousands upon thousands of challenging scenarios. How about we stop worrying about why people are where they are and just live to help them get to be where God wants them to be? That is the purpose of our grace clothes. When we wear these attributes, we are able to help other people out of spiritual graves, out of broken places and help them find healing and stability.
Believer, Jesus has entered your story with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. He didn’t come to you, bashing you, belittling you, blaming you, or berating you. He came to you as if you were a sheep without a shepherd. He intersected your life when you were lost and needed help finding your way. That is the same approach we are to have with those around us. It happens as we live as those who have been made alive in Christ.
Verse 13 of our text is critical. It is a hinge-pin upon which so much else rests. Our testimony rests on it. Our emotional and spiritual health rests on it. Our quality of relationships depends on it. Quite possibly, our own salvation rests on it. If it is that serious, we’d better explore it. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another (hold on to that idea of bearing with each other) if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you. We now know what it is like to be rescued, to be provided for, to be cared for, to have our sin burden lifted, to be given gifts that give us strength, that provide encouragement, that literally have changed the trajectory of a bad, even desperate situation.
Our greatest need is for forgiveness. Spiritually dead people can’t become spiritually alive people without God’s forgiveness. God, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His Son, made a way for us to be forgiven. The gift was extravagant. It cost Jesus His life. No one has ever done so much for us. You were destined for Hell without forgiveness. You weren’t going to have access to God without forgiveness. God did for you what you could never do for yourself. You didn’t have to beg God for His forgiveness. He had already done it. You just had to receive it. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Generously. Willingly. Lovingly. Verse 14: And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Love has to be your motivation. Love is the reason why you engage with people in compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, patient, and forgiving ways.
Saying “yes” to God’s love changes us. First and foremost, it changes us to become loving towards other people. All people. People we like and people we don’t. People who have wronged us and people who have our backs. People who are easy to love and people who aren’t. Friends and enemies alike. Our mandate, from Christ, is to love. Without love, our compassion is mere pity. Without love, our kindness is a façade. Without love, humility, gentleness and patience are just a show.
We have been given the ministry of reconciliation. We are to be peacemakers, Colossians 3:15. We’re not supposed to try to make life miserable for someone, even if they wrong us. We are to bless people and release people and let people know how good it feels to be forgiven. Forgiveness is something we should walk around ready to give because we have preloaded it ahead of the offense. Put your “grace clothes” on. God has freed you and wants to enable you to live as Christ did. He has chosen you to represent Him on the earth. He has made you alive in Christ, so don’t wear clothes that represent the grave of your old life. Live chosen.
