Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:05] Welcome to another edition of the Weekday Podcast. We're in a week thinking about peace. And so if you missed yesterday's episode, I would encourage you to go back and catch it. You can go to weekdaypodcast.com one of the things I'm convinced of is that every single bedroom in America has the chair. You know the one I'm talking about? It's in the corner. Somebody bought it, and at some point it was for sitting, but nobody's ever sat in it. The chair is for clothes that are too clean to go in the hamper, but too worn to go back in the drawer. And here's what happens on a rushed morning. You don't choose what to wear. You just grab whatever's closest, whatever's on the chair.
[00:00:40] Now, I think most of us get dressed spiritually the exact same way. When someone hurts us, we don't decide what to put on. We reach for whatever is closest. And what's closest is rarely compassion. What's closest is rarely patience. Resentment is usually right there on the chair, already worn in hand, already fits like a glove. Here's what Paul says in Colossians 3, verse 12. He says, Put on. That's a clothing word. It's the same word you'd use for getting dressed in the morning, which tells us something important.
[00:01:11] This isn't a feeling we wait around for. It's a decision that we make. But look at what comes right before the close as those who have been chosen by God. Holy and beloved. Those are three powerful words. Chosen, holy, beloved. And here's what I love about these words. You don't do any of them. And every one of them was done to you. You didn't choose yourself. You didn't make yourself holy. You didn't earn being loved. Those are gifts. Now, in the Old Testament, those were the names God gave his own people, Israel. And now Paul is handing those same family names to a church of Jews and Gentiles and saying, you're all family now, and that matters because you can't forgive your way into the family. You forgive because you're already in it. Identity comes before instruction. The order is everything. We don't forgive to earn God's love. We forgive from God's love. And if we ever get that backwards, forgiveness turns into a performance. And performance never produces peace.
[00:02:12] Now look at the wardrobe that Paul lays out. He talks about compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Now, that's not a list of things that you have to manufacture. That's a description of how Jesus has treated you and every single one of these he's already given to you.
[00:02:30] So when you think about this in a practical way, there's three things. First, tomorrow morning, before you pick up your phone, read this verse, verse 12 out loud. 30 seconds. Chosen, holy, beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. And get dressed before the day gets to you.
[00:02:48] Second, notice what your default is. When somebody frustrates you, what do you reach for?
[00:02:54] Is it sarcasm? Is it silence? The cold shoulder? Just knowing your default is half the battle. And third, the next time that person's name pops up on your phone, say to yourself, I'm loved. I don't need to win this one. Maybe you're thinking, I don't feel compassionate, and that's okay. Clothes don't wait for you to feel dressed. You just put them on first. The feeling usually catches up later. We forgive from being loved, not not to earn it. Now, once you get dressed, there's another question. Think about that person that annoys you. The guy who stops at the top of the escalator to admire the view. Is that something you have to forgive, or is that something you just let go? Paul draws a line between those two things, and most of us blur it. Tomorrow, I invite you back. As we dig into it, have a great day.
