“As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Col. 3:12.
Heavenly Father, what to wear in Franklin, Tennessee is an ever-changing constant. Fortunately, you’ve made our heart-garment choices easy—no matter the temperature, humidity, and forecast. As your set-apart and “dearly loved” children, there are five articles we’re to wear all the time.
Compassion + Kindness + Humility + Gentleness + Patience
Like Birkenstocks, they’re never out of style—though whether to wear socks with them changes every decade or so. These 5 garments of grace are better than Gore-Tex when our relational context is raining, not cats and dogs, but angry pythons, biting monkeys, and squawking parrots.
Father—all kidding aside, we know these matters to be quite serious, timely, and eternal. How we love matters now and forever; for you have told us that “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love” (Gal. 5:6). You have also told us that—without love, we are like brash, irritating, melody-less, gongs being played at the worse time possible.
Indeed, when we’re not loving as Jesus loves us—not only do we gain nothing; we steal from people we love. Most graphically, when we default or choose to be loveless, we are nothing—zero, nada, zilch (1 Cor. 13:1-3).
Therefore, Abba, there is one downpour we crave in response to which we’ll keep our umbrellas folded, our Gore-Tex in the closet, and we will splash around like kids happy for the deluge—and that is an outpouring of your Holy Spirit. Love is a fruit of your Spirit, so send us a holy, healing hurricane—a tenderizing, transforming typhoon—a heaven-pouring, heart-flooding, inundation with your love (Rom.5:5). Yea, verily, and So Very Amen.
