Priorities part 2
There's a term in our key verse for this Rant series that I want to spend today exploring. "Put on." As in, "And above all these things PUT ON charity, which is the bond of perfectness" (Colossians 3:14). But, on the surface, that almost looks like you're adding something external. So look at Colossians 3:9-10, just a few verses earlier, "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." This putting off and putting on... that was the cross. That was 2,000 years ago. That was the old man dying in the watery grave of baptism and the New Man rising up to walk in newness of life. Leaving behind what came before--all of our twisted, out of whack, messed up priorities--and focusing only on what is truly important: God and people. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. That's what we were created to do. We were created to be known and to know. To be loved and to love. That, friends, is the difference between the old man (who didn't know God loved him) and the New Man (who is the beloved Son of God--the one who lets Himself BE LOVED by God). Now check this out: That phrase "put on" in Colossians 3:10 is number 1746 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "in the sense of sinking into a garment." We've already put it on. Or rather, like the father who ran out to meet the prodigal son, we've already had it put on us. Robed with HIS righteousness, and mercy, and truth, and grace, and forgiveness, and love. All we have to do is put on what has already been put on. Sink into it. Get comfortable with it. It's like that one pair of jeans that you've worn a million times and they just fit so perfectly. You feel natural in them. Like they're a part of you. You put those bad boys on and you're good to go. Ready to rock and roll. That's what charity can feel like. It's our new (true) nature, but when you're making such a huge shift from darkness to light it can take some getting used to. I heard a preacher say the other day, "This life is a life of restraint." Self-control is a fruit of Spirit. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. So we make choices. We set our priorities. We give our Three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) to the things that matter to us--and in that way we MAKE those things matter to us. I Rant a lot about stretching youself. Getting out of your comfort zone. Going out on a limb--because that's where the fruit is. Now let me add this to that: Once you start to stretch out in God's love... that's when you get comfortable in it. That's when (and how) you test the height, and length, and depth, and breadth of God's love for you... by loving Him (by loving people) bigger and stronger than you ever thought you could. Love is giving. So you experience love by loving people. By giving what you've got. But you can only give what you've got if you know what you've got. You can only release it once you've received it. You release it BY receiving it. By filling yourself to overflowing with what God has already filled you with. By putting on what HE has already put on you. By making love your one and only true priority in life!