What the Well-Dressed Christian Wears

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
What the Well-Dressed Christian Wears
Written by Mary Whelchel
February 20, 2012


Did you know that there is a special wardrobe designed just for Christians? Yes, that's right, Christians need to wear a specialized wardrobe - one that sets us apart from others and identifies us as people who love and serve Jesus Christ. I don't mean a uniform or some strict dress code. The wardrobe that I'm talking about is found in Colossians 3:12.

And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful.

These are the special garments intended by God for each of us to wear, and we have a unique opportunity to be lights in our working worlds by learning how to wear these beautiful clothes. Let's look more closely at these inner garments which we need to "put on."

The first garment is compassion, which can be described as a deep feeling of sharing the suffering of another. You know, it's not hard to find suffering people these days. Undoubtedly you have suffering people all around you where you work. Are you aware of their suffering? Do you care?

It seems to me that all too often I'm quick to blame people and judge them without stopping to think of what they have endured, or why they are the way they are.

Don't you think compassion would look good on your job? If you wear it, you won't be so quick to condemn or judge. You'll give people room to make mistakes. Do you pray for the people you work with? Start praying for them, and watch how much more compassionate you feel toward them.

Kindness is the second garment in the closet of a well- dressed Christian. Have you been too busy to wear any kindness lately? Do you take it on and off, depending on your mood or who you're with? Sometimes we are least kind to the people we're with the most. It seems we save our kind behavior for people we don't see very often, as though it were in short supply. We really need to show kindness to those people we work with. God has plenty of it, so wear it to work every day. You'll look terrific!
 
Thank you.... I'm relaxing with my :coffee: and reading another one of the wonderful messages you share with us.
 
What the Well-Dressed Christian Wears
Written by Mary Whelchel
February 21, 2012

In addition to wearing compassion and kindness, the third garment in this special wardrobe is humility. The world system often gives negative connotations to humility, as though it were an undesirable characteristic. It is often viewed as weakness or wimpy. Rarely do we think of humility as a necessity for getting to the top in the business world.

But that's an incorrect assessment of true humility. The Bible defines humility as a lack of pride, and an awareness of who we are in comparison to who God is. God hates pride; it's the number one sin at the top of the list of things that he hates. If your assessment of yourself is inflated, and you have a "know-it-all" attitude, you're not wearing humility, and you're missing an important outfit in your wardrobe.

And then we come to gentleness. I'm always overwhelmed with the amazing gentleness of Jesus Christ. Oh, how we need to wear his gentleness every day. We need that gentle and quiet spirit, which Peter tells us is precious in the sight of God.

Are your words tough or harsh? Do you have a sharp tongue or hasty actions that pierce and hurt people before you realize what you're doing? Then you undoubtedly need to wear more gentleness. Gentle answers turn away anger, we are told in Proverbs 15:1, and a gentle spirit brings peace to chaotic situations. It is a precious garment, and everyone will love it on you!

The next garment we find in this wardrobe for the inner person is patience. Patience can be defined as the capacity to calmly endure. I have to chuckle when I say that, because if anything is the opposite of me, it is calm endurance. This is a really difficult garment for me to wear; it just never seems to fit - always a little too small for me.

And yet God put it on his list, and he didn't make any exceptions, not even for me. You know, I'm learning that God can make this garment fit me-or rather, make me fit this garment-if I am willing to let him. I've asked him to help me put on patience, and I'm learning-it fits better now than it did a year ago. If I can wear patience, so can you.

There are still a few more garments to cover in this special wardrobe.
 
What the Well-Dressed Christian Wears
Written by Mary Whelchel
February 22, 2012

The next garment is "bearing with one another"-or tolerance. Tolerance is that beautiful quality of allowing other people to be different from us, even different from what we think they should be, and loving them and appreciating them for who they are. If we wore tolerance to work every day, we wouldn't be upset when people didn't do just what we thought they should do. We'd allow them more room for error. We'd bend over backwards to understand where they're coming from, and to give them more time to grow and learn.

How often I expect others to track along with me - to march to the same tune that my band is playing. And God has to remind me that he deals with each of us individually. Just because he is teaching me one lesson doesn't mean that all my friends have to learn it simultaneously! Tolerance is the garment that allows us to "bear with" others, and it'll look good on you!

Forgiveness-the word itself is beautiful. Oh, what a wonderful garment to have and to wear. God tells us to forgive others as he has forgiven us. Are you harboring an unforgiving attitude in your heart toward someone? Even if you have been mistreated, you need to put on forgiveness. Even if you haven't been asked to forgive, you need to wear forgiveness. And even if you've forgiven them for the same thing time and again, you need to keep forgiving them.

You'll be amazed to see that in forgiving others, you relieve yourself from an immense burden of bitterness and resentment. And you experience God's forgiveness for you in greater measure, so you rid yourself of guilt. Forgiveness will look great on you!

Peace is the next beautiful garment in God's wardrobe. Are you peaceful? Or do you fret and worry a lot? Is your life frantic? Perfect peace comes by fixing your mind on Jesus Christ. Have you tried any peace on lately? It's the most wonderfully comfortable garment in the whole wardrobe, and you'll want to wear it constantly.

Will you consciously think about wearing compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance, forgiveness and peace? I promise you, you'll be very well dressed.
 
What the Well-Dressed Christian Wears
Written by Mary Whelchel
February 23, 2012


Would you be voted one of God's best-dressed people? You can be, if you'll wear the wardrobe he's prepared for you.

Thankfulness is absolutely essential in your wardrobe if you want to be a well-dressed Christian. Do you complain a lot about what you don't have or can't do or where you are or who you are? There usually is lots of complaining going on in most any job environment. If you wear thankfulness you won't complain. You'll be too busy counting your blessings.

And then as the crowning touch to all the other garments in this unique wardrobe, we need to wear Love. Love is the golden chain of all these virtues. It is the finishing touch that brings the whole wardrobe together and blends every garment into a unified appearance.

Love covers up blemishes; it fills in the missing gaps, and mends the frayed edges. God's love, worn in our hearts, motivates us to want to wear all these garments.

So, here they are, God's wardrobe all prepared for you: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, peace, thankfulness and love. You've heard it said that the clothes make the person. Well, that certainly is true with this special wardrobe for our inner persons which as Christians we are told to "put on." The good news is that all of us can afford this wardrobe and we will be the best dressed person on the job if we wear it regularly!

But how in the world do we do that? If you're finding that they just don't fit, or you don't know how in your real everyday situation to be patient or kind or gentle or thankful, then how can we put on these beautiful clothes, which every Christian should wear?

I want to encourage you to believe that you-yes, you-can dress your inner person with all these clothes. No matter how hard it's been or how much you may have failed, God wants you to have them and you can be his best dressed person.
 
What the Well-Dressed Christian Wears
Written by Mary Whelchel
February 24, 2012

Colossians 3 says we should wear compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, peace, thankfulness and love. You may recognize these as the fruit of the Spirit of God - the evidence of the fact that God's Spirit is living within you.

I have found it helpful to think of them as garments that I should wear. And the wonderful thing to know is that these garments are intended for everyone; they are within our grasp, and they look wonderful on all of us.

Putting on these garments is not an act of our emotions; it is an act of our will. When you know you're facing a day that will require, for instance, a great deal of patience, keep repeating that you WILL put on patience for that day. Put it on by faith, regardless of whether you feel patient or not. God will supply the patience when you need it, if you don't allow your emotions to destroy your faith.

Secondly, many of these inner garments do not come naturally to our various personalities, but that's no excuse. I think that we often let ourselves off the hook by saying, "Well, that's just the way I am." I can't see where God makes any exceptions for personality. Don't let your personality be an excuse for not making God's best dressed list.

If you really want to be a well-dressed Christian, I have a suggestion. Every morning before you leave home, dress the inner person. You wouldn't leave home without dressing the outer person, but many of us rush out without even thinking about dressing the inner person. So, every day start putting on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, peace, thankfulness, tolerance and love.

I have done this - literally - for many years now, and what a difference it makes when I consciously dress the inner person. My mind is focused on these inner garments all day, and I'm much more aware when they fall off. And day by day, they begin to fit better and better, and I see that I am more and more dressed properly and less and less a victim of my old nature.
 
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