Put on Love
David W Palmer
(Colossians 3:14 NKJV) “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:8 NKJV) “But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.”
Clothe Yourself in Pure Love
Here, our responsibility is described as “putting on” love. This gives the picture of being clothed in love—or being suited up in love. Clothing and armor are on the outside, and it is the covering, or appearance that we present to others. The Holy Spirit is saying that we are to put love on last of all, over all the other parts and inner workings, so we can present to others an attractive, positive, practical, God-like exterior; but one that is impermeable to the enemy and his attacks. Other people’s encounter with us should be one of experiencing love— “the bond of perfection,” which ties everything together perfectly:
(Colossians 3:12–14 NIV) Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. {13} Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. {14} And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
For example, leaders need to show this exterior of love to those who follow them and to those for whom they have the responsibility to disciple—to teach, direct, guide, guard, and correct. Being led is often difficult when the disciple is coming up against their weaknesses, growth challenges, or when they need to be corrected.
To facilitate justification for disobedience and for dodging new and stretching responsibilities, the enemy tries to find and greatly amplify the weaknesses, faults, or shortcomings of the leader—especially where they haven’t acted in perfect love … in even the smallest way. This is also when the enemy makes or creates many accusations against the leader—either true or false. If, when challenged by their leader, the follower is already feeling unloved, used, or resentful against him or her, this is the enemy’s opportune time to find a listening ear to his divisive strategy.
All of this is aimed at giving a follower ample reason and excuse to no longer follow or receive the needed direction or correction from their leader. In other words, when our flesh doesn’t like where our leader wants to take us, it will look for reasons to rebel—and the “accuser” is always ready to provide copious reasons for not trusting our leaders (See: Rev. 12:10).
This is why the default setting of the leader’s mouth and actions needs to be continual encouragement and love. Then, when he or she brings the difficult challenges to the follower, they have sufficient credit in their relational store that—because of the love of Jesus coming through the leader—the follower feels safe to trust him or her through their vulnerable growth challenges.
The wonderful Holy Spirit summed up Jesus time of training, correcting, leading, and discipling his apprentices like this:
(John 13:1 NKJV) Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
Over all the inner working and grinding processes of facilitating growth to competence in his followers, Jesus had clothed himself in perfect love. Consequently, the only way to encapsulate his time with them was to say that he loved them. And truly, love not only covers a multitude of sins; it always shows interest, sees to the needs of, expects the best of, and leads with the highest wellbeing of others as its motivation.
Those led by this type of love will be far more inclined to take the huge risks of trust required to follow through the growing pains to full competence into Christlikeness themselves. What’s more, they too will lead and live ac
