“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.”
Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience; with these attributes in our tool box, we will go far in representing God’s people on earth. We are to clothe ourselves in these qualities because, as Paul tells us, we have put off the “old self” and put on “the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” Knowing Jesus and following Jesus means that we have been renewed. We have shed our old clothes and put on new ones. Clothing covers and protects our bodies, but it also has another function: it distinguishes us from others and describes who we are. You can tell a lot about a person by what they wear. A uniform is that kind of clothing. Just as a school uniform denotes which school the wearer attends, so the qualities that Paul asks us to “wear” identify us as Christians.
I attended Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College when I was in high school, and we had a uniform that I felt proud to wear; I respected my school, my classmates and the nuns and lay teachers who taught us there. Our behaviour reflected our school, and our behaviour was of particular note when we were in uniform. A girl in uniform behaving badly in the public view would have been severely dealt with by the Principal. It was our responsibility to show exemplary behaviour as representatives of our college.
And so Christian behaviour is something that identifies us and is a reflection of who we are trying to follow. We have been chosen by God, through his infinite grace, remade in Jesus image, therefore our actions should reflect this awesome mission. There’s a beautiful worship song called, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love,” and it encompasses what this message in Colossians is all about. Because we have put on Christ and live in him, we need to be like him as best we can, and wear our Christian attributes of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience as signifiers of the presence of our Lord in our lives.
Tell Out My Soul 
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