Colossians 3:12-14  (NIV)

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.

We didn’t start light for our first Motivational Monday. This verse can be picked apart in many ways – and that’s just what we did. I absolutely love how our different perspectives around the table produce a much more rounded answer than if just one of us shared.

Joanna shared how we are already chosen, holy and dearly loved. God has already given us the ability to clothe ourselves with these qualities.

For me, I love how in The Message version, the second sentence of this passage says, ‘Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense.’ Often times, us women seem to think we need to always be in competition. Let’s be honest, rejoicing with those who rejoice isn’t always the easiest thing when it seems to shine a light on what we don’t have.

Here, it essentially is telling us that we should be content when someone is better than us. This may seem small, but…to be completely honest here…it’s sometimes a challenge for me.

Instagram doesn’t help does it? When everyone is posting about their successes and glamourous adventures, and we’re constantly comparing our mundane every day to it. I say it’s time we change this air of competition between our gender. How? By practicing compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness & patience. I don’t think you can successfully put others above yourself if you are missing even one of these pieces.

What jumps out most for you in this passage?