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From the Pastor
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. --Colossians 3:12 NRSV
There is a saying: “Clothes don’t make the person.” I think most of us know that this is saying that the character of a person is not determined by how well they dress. A wonderful person might live in shabby pants and an absolute crook can be dressed up in a suit that makes him or her look like a million bucks.
When this kind of thing happens as Christians, the name we get tagged with is “hypocrite”. Jesus told the Pharisees that they were like whitewashed tombs; they looked good on the outside but were full of dead men’s bones.
What is the writer of Colossians saying to us? Is he suggesting that we should do our best to look like Jesus even though we are sinful creatures? That is exactly what he is saying! He is telling us to do it, but do it because we are loved by Jesus, not because we are trying to fool anyone.
Here in the world of the Spirit, to put on the attributes that make us look like Jesus means to become like him. The work of the Spirit is transformative which means it doesn’t just cover our sinful humanity but has the power to make of us the children of God.
We know that if we are angry, bitter, resentful, hateful and hurtful, these things shape us. We become what they are, and we are not pleasant to live around.
In the positive side, to be clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience also shapes us. The transformation that happens means that we start to look more and more like Jesus Christ. It isn’t that we have gotten good at lying and covering up but rather that the power of the Spirit is at work in who we are.
We can do it wrong. We can pretend to love but really hate. We can pretend to be kind but poke others secretly every chance we get. This is hypocrisy.
But if we will step away from our egos and for Christ’s sake show compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience: they become in us sincere and real. They enrich our lives. They allow us to see the world in a new way. And they allow the world to see us in a new way.
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