Colossians - Clothe Yourselves With Compassion (Daily Devotional)

Hi everyone, welcome to Living Supernaturally. Thank you once again for this opportunity to minister God’s word and to spend a few moments in prayer. Colossians chapter 3, verse 12, ‘as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion.’ In Colossians chapter 3, the apostle Paul gives us a list of sweet and nutritious fruit that a Christian can produce in their lives because the Spirit of God is working in them. The first item listed here is compassion. The phrase ‘clothe yourself with compassion’ extends to include a range of other virtues like kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. These qualities work together to create a positive and loving influence. Clothe yourself- in this context, it is intentionally means to embody these qualities in our thoughts, words and actions. As much as we can sometimes grumble and complain about our dirty clothes, most of us would agree that putting on clean clothes is a great feeling- they feel, look and smell great. When Moses met with God on Mount Sinai, God described Himself as the compassionate and gracious God. For us to know that God is powerful is good. To know that God is compassionate is a great relief. When Jesus saw the crowds following Him, He had compassion on them. For us to know that Jesus is God’s eternal Son is good but to know that Jesus is compassionate is liberating. A compassionate person first of all sees others as people and not as competitors and someone to defeat, not as consumerist self, not as someone belonging to a certain ethnic group or social class. A compassionate person first of all sees others just like how God sees them. Compassion is not excusing sin as if our actions have no consequences, that is not what God did when He showed compassion and mercy. In fact, Jesus Himself took consequences upon Himself. God also allows us to face natural consequences of our choices. Too often when people are difficult or frustrating, we write them off, we get sick of them. We can use the phrase, ‘I’m done with them’. Compassion fights against those attitudes. Compassion is having an attitude of graciousness and mercy to a person. A compassionate person again sees others not as competitors. Are we walking in this kind of attitude? Paul’s writing to the believers and saying, clothe yourself with compassion. May the Holy Spirit empower us to clothe ourselves with compassion just like Jesus did.

Let us pray, Father, we thank you for this word and for teaching us that you are a compassionate God and through the Holy Spirit, you pour out your compassion into our lives. Enable us and empower us to walk in this compassion with the people around us may know that we serve you. We thank you for this wonderful opportunity, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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