Dress for Success

Dress for Success Our Witness for Christ

 

Colossians 3: 12-14 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

 

The world is just looking for a reason to believe. They are desperately seeking a deeper meaning for life than the shallow ones offered by Satan. Think back to before you knew Christ. I remember the constant nagging thought that there just had to be more than this. There had to be meaning; purpose. When I would look to the church I would often see hypocrisy, false morality, and a sense of superiority. These are the things we need to be wary of in our witness for Christ. Because the sad truth is that as much as people are looking for a reason to believe, they are also looking for a reason to not believe. There are many false religions out in the world competing with the truth. What they see and hear from us, may be the only chance they have to believe.

 

In Paul's letter to the Church at Colossae, he encourages and corrects believers who were doing a lot well, but had started to listen to false teachings which were confusing their witness for Christ. Paul recognizes the importance of witness because he never actually visited Colossae. Biblical scholars agree that in all likelihood, the Colossian Church grew out of Paul's ministry efforts in Ephesus. From there the Gospel spread and churches were opened in many other places Paul never even visited; Colossae being one. It is not surprising then that we find toward the end of his letter to the Colossians that he addresses correct and incorrect Christian behavior. It is the correct behavior, found in our key verses above, that assist the Gospel in spreading to places that desperately need it.

 

Now let us be clear. The Gospel message will spread with or without us. It is power and life and freedom to all who hear it. The fact that God chooses to use us at all should remain at all times incredibly humbling. That the master of the universe, who spoke everything into existence with a single command, should choose to use us should be awe-inspiring. Now, each of these verses above contains an important nugget we can mine for theological understanding. In verse 12 it is easy to focus on the virtues we are supposed to have as Christians.

 

Compassion - Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

 

Kindness - But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Luke 6:35

 

Humility - ...All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 1Peter 5:5