Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12, NIV)
Before you hit a warmup shot, before you even head to the course, you’re thinking about something else when it comes to playing golf today: What will you wear?
We all know golfers of the extreme varieties—those who seem to pay no attention at all, other than making sure their shirt has a collar, and those whose coordinated outfit belongs on the mannequin in the pro shop. In between are the rest of us. What’s clean and ready in the closet? Does this shirt go with these shorts? Great! Socks, shoes, hat—here we go!
What we wear on the golf course can say a fair bit about us. Those little course logos reveal where we’ve been (or at least where a friend of ours has been). The manufacturer’s labels may suggest our fandom for a certain tour player. And if I happen to arrive at the course wearing the same shirt as another player in my foursome, you’d be forgiven for assuming that we both shop at Costco, because we probably do.
But what about the other “clothes” we wear? It was Bert Healy in the musical Annie who sang, “You’re never fully dressed without a smile,” and that simple idea reminds us that there’s more to what we’re sporting than our garments.
What you wear is what people see of you. It gets their attention.
The word that may best describe these other clothes of ours is countenance. In the Old Testament priestly blessing, we read, “The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace” (Number 6:26, NKJV). The Hebrew word for countenance more literally means “face.” We see things in others’ faces that can tell us what they’re feeling or thinking. We’ve all worn disappointment and anger and worry, but also joy and surprise and satisfaction. And our friends have recognized each of these in our countenance.
More than once in his letters to the early churches, the apostle Paul took up the metaphor of clothing ourselves with the traits of Christ. A few verses ahead of the one we’ve highlighted today, he told the Colossians that they should not lie to one another “since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self”—one set of clothing has been replaced by another.
Then Paul gave the Colossians five specific traits to wear: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Sometimes we get caught up in meaty spiritual words, such as calling. But Paul has given us something more concrete. “Get dressed,” he says, and “wear these duds particularly.”
Spread out in the weeks ahead, we’ll look at these five traits. For now, consider this powerful reminder: What you wear is what people see of you. It gets their attention. No wonder, then, that Paul emphasized the traits he did. They are attributes that reflect the one who has made it possible for us to put on a new self, our Savior Jesus Christ.
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Jeff Hopper
August 3, 2020
Copyright 2020 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.