Swans and cygnets

Oh wow. What an amazing picture. How well those little children follow their mommy. Or daddy. Not sure which.

What a great picture of what following Christ might look like, if we actually did it. As we look at Colossians 3:12-17, we see a snapshot of that very thing. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. . . . And above all these put on love. Can we do this? On our own, no.

That is why Paul reminds us just before he lists the virtues that we are God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. It is in our identity as belonging to God Himself that we are righteous and holy. It is the holiness that Christ bought for us at the cross.

Remember the clothing lessons? Remember the fig leaves. Remember that trying to cover our own shame didn't work out so well. It is in "putting on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24) that we can obey at all. Alone, we just don't have it in us.

I invite you, no challenge you, to spend some time in Colossians 1 and 2, seeing God's amazing declarations about who you are in Him, and what He has done to accomplish your wardrobe in righteousness. Marvel at His goodness and kindness and mercy. And then live like what you are.