The way we dress our heart reflects the King of our heart!
Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Colossians 3:12
There have been many times in our lives where we have had to dress up for a special event. Whether it was for a wedding, party, awards ceremony, date or maybe even for church. For us ladies, the process can take a few hours of grooming, trying on our best clothes and making sure every part of the final look is as close to perfect we can get. Usually, the best part of these times is that you get to dress up and look your best, feel your best and enjoy the event even more.
When God looks at us, our physical clothes we wear do no matter to Him (Matthew 6:25). Instead, the clothes we dress our hearts in matter most. As the Bride of Christ, our lives are a preparation for His return to be One with Him again. If our hearts are not ready, or if we have not prepared for the ceremony, we will miss out on the wedding. Matthew 25 talks about the parable of the ten bridesmaids. Five were wise and took extra oil for their lamps, which counted them worthy to meet and celebrate with the bridegroom. The other five were foolish and did not bring enough oil and they missed out on His return completely.
The Scripture from Colossians today is one we need to clothe our hearts in. Tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience are the oil that enable us to burn our lamps. As we continue in verse 14, "Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony." Love is the most unifying and merciful word there is. The love Jesus demonstrated to us brought salvation, deliverance and eternal life with Him! His love and life He poured out to us revealed clothes of love, tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. "And let the peace that come from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful." (verse 15). Among all the pain and suffering Jesus took, peace ruled in His heart. Jesus pursued our hearts when we deserved to be abandoned. His love joined us to Him through His life He humbly and mercifully gave. His kindness looked at our ugly rags and replaced them with fine silk. His gentleness cleaned the dirt off of our faces and His patience dressed us into the best version of ourselves. Our hearts need wholehearted care and attention and that is why Jesus came. He is the living Word speaking into the dark places of our hearts and lights them up with the everlasting oil and fire He offers.
As His children, disciples, friends, and greatest love, "let the message about Christ, in all it's richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Colossians 3:16 - 17.
After all Jesus gave through God, our lives need to be dressed in thankfulness too. In every area of our lives, whether difficult or comfortable, we need to thank Jesus for the life He has given us. Living a new life through Him shouts praises of sincere and honourable thanks to His throne. Dressing our hearts in the likeness of His glory counts us worthy to share in His blessings and gives us the revival we ask for. This revival is life through Jesus Christ! The resuscitation He gave us, allows us to beat our hearts for Him, to fill every empty room with His Presence, and to worship His Name by giving thanks in everything we are.
We need to live a life worthy of our calling that has been called by God (Eph 4:1). At His table, we need to take the lowest place there is and give everything we have for the inheritance of His Kingdom (Luke 14:10). We need to serve Him with gladness as He is our master who grants us freedom in His Home (Psalm 100:2). Above all, we need to love Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and love our neighbours as He has loved us (Luke 10:27).
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:6
Father God, we come to You in the Name of Jesus. Thank You Lord for the new creation you have made us through the death and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus. Father, we ask that you cleanse our hearts from the impurities from becoming more like You and we pray that we become more aware of living through Your Spirit that dwells within us. May You help us keep our lamps burning as we await Your return. May Your Name be glorified in all the earth! In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.
This is so beautiful. May we always be clothed with His Love ♡