Colossian 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Today we revisit a familiar verse for long-time readers. It seems we have covered this verse in at least 4 other books, so apologies for the verse yet again. But it is so interesting how we can explore the same verse repeatedly and always get something new from it. This devotion we are exploring the verse to discover what we can about humility.
A quick reminder (and for those who are new to the verse), we are God’s chosen people. We are His children, adopted into His family when we became believers. We have become heirs to righteousness and are dearly loved by Him. And because of this, we are to be holy. We do this by clothing ourselves with the virtues listed in this verse: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. And over all of it, we put on love (Colossians 3:14).
The Greek word for humility in this verse is not the same as humility in other verses, though it is similar. This time it is tapeinophrosynen, which is derived from two Greek forms: tapeinos (which means lowly) and phren (which involves the mind). Together we get the word tapeinophrosynen, which is literally a “lowliness of mind.” It is an inward attitude of humility rather than an outward performance one does to appear humble.
From everything we have learned in the past week, we know that humility doesn’t just happen because we decide we are humble. It is as much a conscious effort as it is a choice, requiring a change in our behavior. And as we can see from today’s verse, it is also a change in our minds. It refers to an attitude of serving others, of placing their needs above our own. Or to put it in other words, you are not not thinking less of yourself, but instead are thinking of yourself less.
Are you putting on humility each day? Though I have read this verse multiple times (and explained different aspects of it repeatedly in previous devotions), I must confess that I am not putting on humility in my day-to-day actions. I may choose to be humble when I am with others, thinking of them instead of myself. But with my own family? I am not sure. As a mother I admit to caring for others first and putting myself last. But I can still be selfish, too, as all of us can be. Humility is a choice, a shift in thinking as well as behavior. My behavior might shift, but my mind? Different story.
How about you?
Prayer: Lord, I don’t want my mind to be focused on me alone. Help me to think of others first and put myself second as I clothe myself with humility each day. Amen
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