It’s August (wow!) and that means we’re halfway through our summer message series, Follow. This past weekend, in week 4 of the series, we looked at the question: what do followers of Jesus wear?--not in terms of their clothing or physical appearance, but in terms of what they “put on,” how they treat others and what qualities form their identity. St. Paul tells us that followers of Jesus clothe themselves in “heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12). What does each of these virtues really mean?
- Heartfelt compassion = feeling what other people are going through and experiencing on a deep level
- Kindness = loaning your strength to someone else
- Humility = seeing yourself as you really are, in relationship to other people and to God
- Gentleness = responding to others in light of their strengths and weaknesses instead of responding to others out of your strength
- Patience = deciding to operate at the speed of another person