The passage says we were “always”
loved which tells us that there was never a time when we were not loved by God. God has “always” had us in His mind
before we ever knew Him and could draw attention to Him, for His love
transcends time.
How much does He love
us? It says we are “dearly”
loved, someone “dearly” loved is someone who holds a special place of deep affection,
and who loves us at “great cost” to themselves.
The Father offered His Son as the ultimate sacrifice for us that we
might be brought back into right relationship with Him without the stain and
effects of sin upon our lives which would block us from that great love. Sin wasn’t part of the original plan of God’s
love for us, but became an issue when Satan enticed man to rebel with him against
God in the eternal garden called Eden.
“So robe
yourself with virtues of God” is the next line, what are God’s virtues? The book of Galations chapter 5 describes
what God’s virtues are in detail:
“But the fruit produced by the Holy
Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows,
peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of
virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for
they are meant to be limitless.” Galatians
5:22-23 (TPT)
Paul tells
us to robe ourselves in these virtues, to literally put them on as you put on
clothing so that the virtue we clothe ourselves with will cover us and protect
us from the onslaught of the world and its devices which are specifically
formed against us to tear us down and defeat us.
We were
chosen by God to be a people who are set apart from the common everyday hum-drum
of life, apart from others who have no hope to be a shining example of what it
means to be child of God, and to be a people who hear and respond to Him in
ways that reflect His love to others.
“Be
merciful as you endeavor to understand others” taking the time to
understand others and become a listener requires a lot of practice, refraining
from speaking or giving advice which is probably one of the most
difficult things we can do, we must always remember that we cannot fix people, (even
though we are tempted to try) but we can take time to understand them, cry
with them, and pray for them that God would intervene and meet their needs. Only God can fix people, and we can always ask Him
through prayer to do just that.
“be
compassionate, showing kindness toward all” is really a tall order! When we are clothed in the virtues of God it
can become second nature to us as long as we have our mind dialed into the
Father’s affection for us. Even when we
are met with resistance from others we can draw upon the strength we have
gained through our relationship with the Father being intimately connected
to Him.
Being compassionate, and showing kindness toward all seems like an impossibility out
of our own effort when we are not clothed with God’s virtue, we can only give
what we have out of our own resources which depletes quickly. When we have God’s virtue at our disposal we
have an unlimited supply to sustain us and give to others that they may also
know of God’s unlimited supply.
“Be
gentle and humble” this comes from recognizing that this resource does not originate
from us, it originates from God and our relationship with Him. As God is gentle with us, so we extend that
same gentleness from Him that we have been given.
Our meekness
is the result of everything that we do and all that we are comes from a heart
of gladness and thankfulness that everything that we are comes from Him.
And lastly be
“unoffendable in your patience with others”, it is so easy to pick up
offenses when others say hurtful things to us which challenge us or offend us. It is at those times we must recognize that if we
are clothed with Christ and His virtue it is really not us they are offending,
it is Him. Sure we can have a thick
skin, but it is alright to realize that Jesus was always misunderstood, even as He is
today.
We can be patient with others who
are working through this same process of understanding God’s love for them and
what that means in their lives, just as we have gone through it.
Our goal is
to be a mirror for others to see the love of God in us, not for us to be easily
offended when difficulty comes our way.
Offenses will come, it is wisdom to recognize that offenses are designed
to make us stronger that we do not take these offenses personally but that we
may place our full confidence in God’s love and offer the offenses to God who is big enough to take the offense that
we can be free from reacting, and be patient to respond out of the virtue that
we are clothed with.
Be Blessed;
Stephen
Barnett
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