Peyton's Memoirs from Rwanda

Putting on love

// June 26th, 2010 // Uncategorized

Colossians 3:12-14

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; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Since I began my journey in Rwanda, it has been my constant prayer that God would help me to love with compassion and to be patient with others. I have been so humbled by the stories and people and sights I have seen here. Still, I find it hard to put on love every single day. I have been dwelling on compassion this week, as I listened to a favorite sermon of mine, by Brennan Manning, on what it means to be “In Christ”.

I find myself asking often – What in the world am I supposed to be doing with my life? What is my purpose? I’ve come to realize, and Manning states this also, through the words of Paul, I exist for the sake of Christ. He states that to be “In Christ”, means to have in you the mind of Christ Jesus, to replace all our natural human responses with the responses of Jesus. Wow. Imagine what that would look like, to respond to others in the same manner as Christ. To live a Christocentric-life – to love what he loves…to hate the things that he hated…to make his thoughts your own. It is no easy task, that’s for sure. BUT, IT IS WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO DO. “Be merciful(compassionate), even as your Father is merciful(compassionate).” – Luke 6:36

How do we do this? How do we be compassionate? By accepting others, for who they are, where they are in life, no matter their circumstances, no matter how dark the road is that they have traveled. Isn’t this how Jesus loved us? Why then is it so hard to replicate this kind of love? I try not to judge people. I look at their faults and failures, then I am reminded of my own, and I can no longer criticize or judge them for that reason. God doesn’t love me anymore than He loved anyone else. He fiercely loves us all. He could never love us any more or any less. And this is characterized by His compassion. Manning says this, “That you are never more Christ-like than when you are choked with compassion for the brokenness of others.”

That’s how I want to live – putting on love, daily, through compassion.