Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians3:12
Paul has been talking about taking off the "old clothes" or "old self" of lies, greed, malice, etc. He is talking about being a Trader.
The temptation that makes trading difficult is the temptation to focus too hard on what we are giving up. When we look at what we are taking on it gets easier.
The worship song we sometimes sing puts it so well:
"Turn your eyes upon Jesus - Look full in His wonderful face:
And the things of the earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace."
Here Paul offers us a better wardrobe than the "emperor's clothes" of self-obsession and self-centredness. Let's look at the garments briefly:
Compassion: Literally "sympathetic organs" - allow yourselves to feel for others in the guts. We allow the heartache of the world to move us. We don't insulate or medicate compassion but allow it to move us to action.
Kindness: The Greek word here is elsewhere often used of God and implies "undeserved kindness." We are kind to those who have not earned or deserved it.
Humility: From the same root that Paul uses in Philippians 2 when he urges us to imitate Christ who gave up the glory of heaven and humbled Himself to humanity and the cross.
Gentleness: Is also translated meekness and even courtesy. It implies controlled strength. It is the diametric opposite of harshness.
Patience: Long-suffering, endurance, forbearance. It recognises that life is a marathon - that we must persevere and take a long-term view.
Imagine if more of us wore this five-piece outfit! As Christians, and Traders, let's trade the me-first Emperor's clothes for this five piece work outfit! The world would be a much better place.
---
--------------------------
Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
