Clothe Yourself With...

In the calm of my home this morning I was able to read my Bible in peace. Something (or someone) was calling me to Colosions 3. As I read I couldn't believe how relevant it was to the fruit of the Spirit. Then God reminded me He was the one who sent me there, and of course He would send me to the perfect verse ;-) I went back and read the whole book. It is a great message on how a Christian should live. My favorite verses were 12 and 14. "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience... And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." This gave me a word picture of waking daily and dressing myself, an actual putting on, in the fruits of the Spirit. Kindness is a sleeve, compassion a pant leg, humility, gentleness, and patience are all other sections of an outfit. And they are all sewn together with the common thread which is love. I love this picture! Another thing, you wouldn't walk out of the house naked, would you? (Hopefully most of you are saying no at this point ;-)You would be unprotected from the elements, not to mention inappropriate. Think of the fruits of the Spirit as the same. You want to protect yourself from the elements of the world, and it would be quite inappropriate to call yourself a disciple of the Lord without giving yourself the outward sign or garments of the Lord's child, figuratively saying-the fruits of the Spirit. But always remember, the fruits of the Spirit aren't things that will just show up in your life without focus on the Lord and living out His ways. You have to wake up in the morning and "put on" these qualities and fight the world all day from trying to take these things off of you. You can do it, you just need the guidance of the Lord through His word and prayer.
 So even though it is not first thing in the morning, decide to change your figurative outfit and put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You will look much nicer for it ;-)