Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Today the Holy Spirit wants to point out the spiritual attire that God requires.

Today’s scripture, Colossians 3:12 NIV
[12] Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Consider…
Back in the day I remember signs on restaurant doors that said, “No shirt, no shoes, no service”. A Google search revealed this was a cultural phrase and policy that originated in the 1960s and 1970s as a way for businesses to keep hippies out of their establishments.

While the dress requirements was an exclusion tactic used by businesses, today’s scripture reveals God has clothing requirements for His chosen people too.

What I found surprising is the first article of clothing is compassion. I would have expected love, grace or mercy to lead the required wardrobe. Yet, today’s verse led with compassion. Then again, I shouldn’t be that surprised since Jesus said in Luke 6:36 (NLT)…
[36] You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

Something else that intrigued me was how other translations rendered today’s verse…

• Colossians 3:12 (NLT) reads…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 (ERV) reads…God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So your new life should be like this: SHOW MERCY TO OTHERS. Be kind, humble, gentle, and patient.

I was intrigued because the only word substituted from today’s translation was compassion. This made me wonder if I had a good grasp on compassion.

Accordingly, I consulted with my wife who informed me that her ‘Bible Hub’ APP said compassion was interchangeable with tenderhearted and showing mercy,

This stirred up even more curiosity in me, so I looked for a dictionary definition of tenderhearted. I found Merriam-Webster defining tenderhearted as easily moved to love, pity, or sorrow.

That locked my original understanding in. Compassion is the physical activity of God’s love, grace and mercy.

That confirmation made me read the ERV translation literal…
SHOW MERCY TO OTHERS

I found it also interesting that we’re told to SHOW mercy, yet the rest of ERV’s translation is about being kind, humble, gentle, and patient. That tells me that as God’s children compassion is what we do, whereas kind, humble, gentle and patient is how we are.

This also reveals the fact that people should experience (feel and see) our compassion.

The Holy Spirit gave me 1 John 3:16-18 (NIV) to explain what I mean…
[16] This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. [17] If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? [18] Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Compassion isn’t spoken, it’s given.

This made me remember Ephesians 4:32 (NIV), which exhorts…
[32] Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Notice we’re told to be compassionate and forgive like we’ve been forgiven. This helps us see that forgiveness is an act of compassion.

Please indulge a quick sidebar. The Holy Spirit is telling me to create an acronym for forgive…
Forgetting
Offenses
Remembering
God’s
Internal
Voice
Eternally

You see our compassion shows others who God is. Thus, when we…

• forgive, others see God is forgiving
• show unconditional love, others see God is loving
• show tenderhearted mercy, others see God is merciful
• extend boundless grace, others see God is generous with grace

So today, make sure you show others the same compassion your Heavenly Father has shown, and shows, you. When you do, you will show them Him!

Today’s song is…
Less Like Me

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)