Seek Things Above Part 2
Last week, we looked at some of the things that we as Christians need to stop doing. This week, we’re going to continue in Colossians 3, and look at some things that we need to start doing. Paul, whenever he lists sins that we need to stop doing, lists their opposite virtues that we need to start doing.
The first thing that we need to do is “clothe” ourselves with compassion and kindness. The use of the word “clothe” is an interesting picture. Just as the first thing people see when they look at us are our clothes, so the first virtue that people see of us should be our kindness and compassion. Kindness and compassion sound simple enough to do, but seriously, how many of us can look at a single day of our lives where we were perfectly kind and compassionate to everyone we met? Compassion is more than just feeling bad for someone who’s going through a rough time, it’s defined as “deep awareness of the suffering of another, coupled with a wish to relieve it”. Do we just feel bad for people who are going through a rough time, or are we actively trying to do something to make it better?
Paul continues, telling us to also clothe ourselves in humility, gentleness, and patience. Humility is one of virtues that if you say you have it, you probably don’t. A lot of people put a show on of being humble, but that’s not true humility. The point of humility is to not exalt yourself or call attention to yourself. We need to remember that without God, we’d be nothing. The fact that we’re Christians doesn’t make us better than the unsaved, it just means that we’re saved from our sins because we’ve believed, not because we’ve done anything to merit God’s grace. We need to be careful to not act high and mighty about our faith because that’s not showing humility and is therefore sinful.
Gentleness is another important virtue. Gentle is defined as “considerate or kindly disposition” and “not hard or severe”. We need to make sure that we’re always gentle in our conversation. Anger and severity is not generally becoming to a Christian. Who would listen to a Christian when they see the Christian exhibiting the same severity or anger that the rest of the world does? We need to be different than the world.
Patience can be a very difficult virtue to maintain, especially when we live in a world that is as fast paced as ours tends to be. Rather than always rushing ahead to the next thing in our life, we need to make sure that we’re doing what we can with each moment that God has given us. When we’re going through a painful or trying time, we need to turn to God and be patient with the situation rather than falling apart. Perhaps the most important aspect of patience, is being patient with other people. We all know somebody that just drives us crazy. We need to be loving and patient to them. If Jesus can die for our sins, surely we can be patient with someone who simply bothers us?
The next thing that Paul says we need to do is to bear with each other, and forgive each other. As Christians, our fellow Christians should be some of the most important people in our walk with God. We’re supposed to encourage each other and help each other with our problems. When we have a disagreement, we need to forgive each other and move on. Beyond our Christian circle, we also need to forgive the unsaved who’ve hurt or upset us as well. Holding grudges and not forgiving is not the Christian way. God forgave us, the least we can do is forgive them.
Paul says that the virtue above all the rest is love. We need to love everyone. “They will know we are Christians by our love”. It’s not easy; sometimes it seems almost impossible, but we need to do it. It’s one of the huge things that set us apart from the world. Don’t let the little things get to you, and be patient with people. Go out of your way to help people, regardless of who they are or what they’ve done. It’s a lot of work, but the benefits are well worth it.
Next week, we’ll hopefully finish Chapter 3.
