Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12-14)

It was one of the first big sermons I preached, and yet, each day now, I still have to look in the mirror and remind myself of the message. When it comes to assessing my own spiritual condition, I usually find myself somewhere on the spectrum between healthy self-analysis and good old Evangelical self-flagellation. The words of the passage above can feel intimidating.

I seldom feel compassionate;
more often, I feel egocentric.
I seldom feel kind;
more often, I feel judgmental.
I seldom feel humble;
more often, I feel self-aggrandizing.
I seldom feel gentle;
more often, I feel hotheaded.
I seldom feel patient;
more often, I feel impulsive.

Elsewhere in the New Testament, these positive attributes are described as fruit— the natural outgrowth of a life firmly rooted in the Spirit. They are the hope and expectation of Christian behavior, and as such, they can be overwhelming. But the wording in Colossians 3 is perhaps more reassuring. They’re shown here as garments, or, more accurate to the Greek, they’re oversized garments. Think of it this way: as a child, did you ever find an adult’s shoes lying around and try them on? Your feet probably slid around in them, and as you walked, you may have tripped and fallen more than once. If you were to go back and slip into those same shoes today, they might fit perfectly, but back then, they were bulky and uncomfortable.

In Colossians 3, the Greek word we translate as “put on” might be more accurately rendered “sink into” or perhaps even “grow into.” Paul is openly acknowledging that, for those who have first embraced a life of grace and forgiveness, these virtues may not come automatically. At first, they will be an oversized garment you wear that creates a dissonance with the smaller person underneath. At first, these garments will completely envelop you and hang off of you, and you may trip over them as you walk. But with time, as you grow, they begin to fit. The garments haven’t changed. That love is the same today as it has always been. Instead, you have changed. You have grown.

I hear it all the time from brand new Christians and from people who have been on the journey of faith for quite a while: why don’t I feel more patient, more peaceful, more gentle, more loving? I can almost guarantee that it’s because you’re still growing. That’s why we’re called on to bear with one another and forgive one another. You are still growing, and so is everyone else. None of us have yet reached perfection. And so, put on the garment that is perhaps the loosest fitting and yet the most comfortable, the one that you most need to feel, the one that the rest of the world needs to experience:
put on love,
sink into love,
grow into love,
for it binds the rest together in perfect unity.