Dressed In Love

When we wake up in the morning, we get ready for the day.

We put on our clothes for the day.

Wherever we go, our clothes go too!

Just as we put on our clothes for the day, we are to clothe ourselves in love.

When we clothe ourselves in love, we are dressing ourselves in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness.

Colossians 3:12-14 tells us:

“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 one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues PUT ON LOVE, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

These verses teach us that before we are able to clothe ourselves in love we must know that we are God’s dearly loved people whom he loves with absolute perfect and pure love (holy).

Pure love, perfect love, holy love, is unconditional love.

It is a love that loves us without conditions.

It is a love that always loves. It is a love that has no hidden motives.

It is a love that loves us just because.

It is a love that has forgiven us of all our sins.

God is love...he loves with perfect, pure love.

His love is compassionate and kind to us...

…humble toward us

...and gentle (we are valuable to him) and patient (he doesn't get angry with us) with us.

He also loves us dearly.

This is love with emotion...love with feelings toward the one being loved.

God feels love for you.

He has affection for you.

You walk through the day loved by God.

As we clothe ourselves in God’s love for us...as we put on his love for us...as we choose to believe we are holy and dearly loved by God, then we will clothe ourselves in love.

We will clothe ourselves in compassion and kindness to others, in humility, and in gentleness, patience, and forgiveness toward others.

We will find ourselves treating others the way we believe God treats us.

We will love without conditions.

We will love with no hidden motives.

We will love just because.

We will become nicer people...

…more forgiving

...less angry

...more patient...

…and less frustrated.

We will treat people with value (gentleness), because we are valued by God.

As we treat people with gentleness, we will avoid treating them in ways which damage them, instead we will treat them in ways that build them up and help them out.

Think about these verses today.

Think about how much you are loved by God and what his love consists of (compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience, forgiveness.)

Clothe yourself in his love for you.

Put on his love for you.

As you do, you will find yourself clothed in his love for others.

You will find yourself dressed in love for the day!