To forgive is a choice we must make daily.
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” – Colossians 3:12–13 ESV
“Clothe Yourselves”
The verse opens with “Put on,” as in putting on clothes. It can also mean “wear,” in the imperative. The NIV renders this as “clothe (yourselves).”
The imagery of putting on clothes suggests to me that the articles listed are not naturally a part of ourselves:
Compassionate hearts. Kindness. Humility. Meekness. Patience.
These are traits that we need to put on ourselves—our naked, natural selves—like garments.
Are we, by nature, compassionate or selfish creatures? Are we naturally kind or cruel? Humble and meek or proud? Think back to when we were young kids—or look at the little ones around us. Don’t we need to teach kids to share and be nice to one another? They aren’t born that way. (Usually.)
When we fail to forgive others, the resentment and bitterness permeate the rest of our being, and nothing we put on will ever cover it completely.
Just like getting dressed in the morning, I need to be intentional about putting these on myself daily. How embarrassing would it be to go about my day with nothing on?
All my flaws would be exposed. I’d be ashamed.
But is it all about external appearances?
“So You Must Also Forgive”
Verse 13 goes on to say that, “as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.”
Forgiveness is a crucial part of our spiritual journey. It’s one of the demands of being a disciple of Christ.
When we fail to forgive others, the resentment and bitterness permeate the rest of our being, and nothing we put on will ever cover it completely.
It‘s like a stench that seeps through anything we wear.
I’ve been working on forgiving others for years, but I know I still have much work to do. There are still traces of bitterness deep inside me, buried under any compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, or patience I might try to put on.
And when that bitterness gets to me—when something triggers me and pokes at the wound caused by my failure to forgive—it oozes out any way that it can, and any efforts to be compassionate, kind, humble, or meek only come across as hypocritical.
Forgiveness. I would argue that it’s easier to be compassionate, kind, meek, humble, and patient when you first make it a practice to forgive others.
Holding grudges only crystallizes a bitterness that no one tastes but you.
Choices to Make Daily
Just like washing up and getting dressed in the morning, I need to make the choice, each and every day, to forgive others.
To put on compassion and counter my natural apathy.
To put on kindness and temper my angry, vengeful nature.
To put on humility to douse the fires of my pride.
To put on meekness and surrender my need to win.
To put on patience and learn how to be quiet, listen, and wait.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col. 3:14–17 ESV)
