In Colossians chapter 2, Paul commands us to be a people who are gentle with one another. He begins the command to gentleness this way: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy, and dearly loved…”. We are told three things about ourselves here as followers of Jesus. We are chosen. We are Holy. We are dearly loved. I don’t know if you feel chosen today, but God has chosen you. I don’t know if you feel holy today, but God has made you so. I don’t know if you feel deeply loved today, but nothing can separate you from the love of God. Some of us may even find these three truths hard to believe. This is why you may have to repeat those three truths to yourself over and over again. Every single day. “I am chosen. I am Holy. I am deeply loved.” Back in 2011, an excellent movie came out about life in the south in the early 60’s. It was called “The Help.” It is a story of the black maids of Jackson, Miss, and their struggles while working for upper middle class white women during the civil rights movement. In some cases, these maids would actually help raise the children for their employers. In one scene, one of the maids, Aibileen Clark is talking to little Mae, who is a part of the family she works for. Little Mae is sitting on her lap and Aibileen is leading little Mae through a kind of a mantra that went like this: “You is good. You is kind. You is important.” Like little Mae, you may have to repeat these truths to yourself daily: “You is chosen. You is holy. You is deeply loved.” Here is why that is so important. In order to practice gentleness, we first need to see ourselves and to see the world around us the way that God does—we need to see others as chosen and holy and dearly loved. And when we do—when we realize how God sees people, we will begin to believe that we must be gentle when we bump into people at church, or in the grocery store, and especially the ones with which we share a home. We will treat people as God has asked us precisely because we will remember that everyone we meet is dearly loved by God, and He has been so gentle with each of us.