Cover Ourselves With Love

This morning I am reflecting on the following passages from Paul's letter to the Colossians 3:9-14 NIV:

[9] "Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices [10] and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. [11] Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all."

[12] "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. [13] Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. [14] And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

These verses seem to fall inline with the recent theme of covering ourselves and one another. Starting at verse 12, if I replace 'clothe yourselves" with 'cover yourselves' which is an equivalent statement, we see how love and the other virtues (or character qualities) are meant to cover us.  What we cover ourselves with affects our interactions with one another.  If I am covered with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and forgiveness then when I relate to others that is what they will experience.  It is impossible to cover ourselves with those character qualities (virtues) and not have our mind and heart affected as well.

It is interesting that love is what binds all the others together in unity.  As Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians, if I don't have love than everything else is pretty much empty (paraphrase of 1 Cor 13:1-3).  According to Paul, love is the outer garment or covering, the first thing that people should experience.  How often do we reserve love as the last thing that people experience, only showing them love after they have proved themselves worthy?

As I was writing that I realized this is probably the one initial thing that made Jesus so attractive, He saw and reacted to everyone through love!  Since God is love (1 John 4:8) and Jesus and the Father were one (John 10:30) then He must have been full of love.  It is hard not to be attracted to one who loves you.  When I know that someone loves me, I am not worried about whether they will accept me.

Going back to the first verses I quoted, Paul is basically saying as we embrace our new identity in Christ, all the labels we have used in the past disappear, both for ourselves and for all others in the Body of Christ.  We are no longer allowed to label ourselves with any name except His.  Christ Jesus "is all and is in all" who are are united with Him in faith.  I know that I have recently been shown my own judgmental ways, quickly labeling people I see before I ever even meet them.  I am so quick to judge, and that is not love.  If the first thing I do is judge, than the covering I am walking around in is judgment not love.  Ouch!

Lord, I pray that You will help me to put off my old self and my judgmental ways and labels.  Help me to put on my new self which is in the image of You.  Help me to cover myself with love, and all the other character qualities that You possess in abundance. Help me to allow You to shine out of me through love, for You are love.

Amen!