Moving Into Life

"Put on therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as the Lord forgave you, so you also do." Colossians 3:12-13 NHEB

Now that we have received the fullness and the goodness of the Lord Jesus; now that we have begun to understand that our old ways of behavior and behavior modification are not the way of the Spirit; now we can turn our hearts to the positive side of our lives. We can now begin to receive and emphasize in our lives the ways of behavior the Spirit desires to teach us in grace - from the inside out. 

So many of us (individuals as well as church systems) never get beyond the sin part. We keep calling everyone to repent all the time instead of teaching them what is in and available to them about how the new creation is to be imaged. We are called to emphasize, not the negative sin nature, but the overcoming person that has been birthed in Jesus. That is not to say our behavior in the natural will automatically cease to be. Not at all. But our body does what we tell it to do. The emphasis of our minds will determine where our sympathy lies. When we busy ourselves emphasizing our sinful humanity, then we stay stuck there. The scriptures turn our minds and have us follow what we are becoming - not what we have been. 

So now, the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul, turns our hearts and minds into the nature of the image of the one being created in us - the image of God Himself through Christ. How does that person live? Because we are His chosen ones, holy and deeply beloved, we accept (put on) an interior of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and steadfastness. We allow faithfulness to the Lord's heart to be cultivated in us and we began to be taught in His heart the fullness of life. Our old ways were and are death. But this new creation in His image has life expressions that are life to us and life to all around us. 

The Lord, as He moved on our earth prior to His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, was many times moved regarding the plight of those around Him and the scripture often says, He was moved with compassion. Compassion is the ability to be deeply sensitive to human needs and a sincere desire to help. It is an innate ability to see deeply inside the needs and wounds and then to answer them with a divine move. Webster says it is  
"sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it." This is grown within us - even the most hardened of individuals, as we chose to spend time with the Holy Spirit in presence, Word, prayer, everyday moments. It is developed as a part of our heritage. 

The Lord has put within those who have received Him, the ability to be Him in every circumstance and placement. 

1 John 4:16-17 "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world." ESV 

So the instructions to us are to actively accept  ("put on") this heart of compassion and expect from our Lord the ability to flow in divine answers. Awesome!