WRITTEN BY MICHELE HANSEN
Based on Revelation 19:6-8, this year we are exploring how the Believer’s righteous acts cover us in Christ’s righteousness and represent our Savior to the world.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12-15)
This passage of scripture was one of my first attempts to memorize the word of God. To me it represented being prepared to go out in public attired perfectly for every occasion. As this new year, new focus, came around, I was inspired, once again, to don the righteous accoutrements from the Lord’s wardrobe.
…accoutrements. It means the added do-dads and equipment for an outfit. As believers we are robed in (Christ’s) righteousness. We are also given the armor of God as our defense and the sword as our offensive weaponry. The verse above talks about what we should put on as well.
“Put on then…” “Then” refers to verses before it. Verses 1-11 talk about the fact that if we are saved and redeemed then there should be things we no longer do. We are to put away the worldly trappings and move on to the righteous living that comes from knowing Christ. He (Paul) goes on to describe what we should be doing.
We should be bearing fruit.
When was the last time you watched a fruit tree struggle to produce fruit? If I was an apple tree, would I be grunting, groaning, pushing, complaining, grappling and stressing. And maybe get one crab apple…?
Apple trees just do what they are made to do…produce fruit. They don’t struggle, they don’t fuss…at least I don’t think they do…and they produce apples.
So, let’s see some kinds of fruit we’re to be producing, shall we?
We start with compassion, humility, kindness and gentleness. Paul references them in relation to “one anothers”. Not only do we seek to dress ourselves in these things, but we also do it so that we can live in harmony with and forgive when we have issues with the “one anothers”.
Guess what, we are all “one anothers” …
It says we are to “bear” with each other. (To me it suggests that we can be awfully difficult to get along with sometimes). In humility, be kind and compassionate and gentle. Let’s be real here…sometimes we just wanna “poke’em ina eye”. We have to truly surrender to the Holy Spirit in the midst of the day to day because we are dealing with “one anothers” all day long. Jesus delt with the horrors of humanity and yet chose to deal with us as if we had never sinned. So utterly amazing! It cost Him everything and then He gave us everything.
The most important piece of our wardrobe is love. Not the kind we think of as humans. Our love is fickle and weak. It changes with moods and demands its own way. It can be moth eaten and smell. It is the very opposite of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
The love of God is the very essence of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7…
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres…
God’s love never fails. We are to put on God’s love.
We all want to be loved like this, but we are incapable of loving like this. We need to be filled with His love so that we can give it away. God’s love is the outfit that is described in our focus verse. We are not capable of treating each other the way we should.
Within the garment of Love, we find all the necessary items to be fully dressed in the righteousness of God through Christ. That Love repels harsh words, despair, hopelessness, loneliness, insecurity, doubt…the very gates of hell can not come against it. It fills us, comforts us, carries us, encourages us, protects us, heals us…Love cannot fail because God cannot fail. His desire to dwell with us forever is the love power that drives His compassion for us. It is His peace.
We are unworthy outside the remarkable gift of Christ’s righteousness.
Dear God,
Thank you for the beautiful garment You have given us that provides everything we need to walk in integrity, honor and power. We can have peace and joy in our soul and praise on our lips as we continue to exchange our grave clothes for robes of righteousness for Your name sake and glory. Blessed be the name of the Lord!
In Jesus’ Name…
