Colossians 3:12-17 “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” This episode is talking about the what God is calling us to do as His chosen ones. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
As God’s Chosen Ones, Holy and Beloved
Colossians 3:12-17 “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
I can’t believe how much instruction can be found in just a few scripture verses. It constantly amazes me how much is packed into each verse. This verse starts out by saying as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved. Did you know that you were God’s chosen one? Are you aware of this fact each and every day? You are holy and beloved. Even if you had nothing else in your life going for you, that would be enough. Then the verse tells us what to do as God’s beloved ones. It says clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. That is a pretty tall order.
It would be a little easier if we were being called to one of those things. If we were being called to clothe ourselves with compassion or kindness, or humility, or meekness, or patience. However that is not what the Lord is calling us to do. He is calling us to all five of them things. We probably won’t use them all at the same time. It depends on the situations. However, we are called to be all these things. The verse says to clothe ourselves with these things. Are we doing this? Are we treating those we encounter with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience? How could you be more compassionate, show more kindness, be more humble, be more meek, and more patient?
Next the verse says, “Bear with one another, and if anyone has a complaint agains another forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” Even just the first four words seem to be difficult these days. Bear with one another. We have been around our family members a lot more over these last two years. Think about how you have spent these last two years. We spent several months not really being able to leave our homes, and the rest of the time, even if we could leave, we probably didn’t venture out around too many people. This means we have been around the same few people more than usual. Are we bearing with them? Are we being patient and kind when they need something from us? Are we allowing them to get under our nerves, or are we cutting them some slack and being compassionate for the circumstances?
Here we are talking about forgiveness again. I think the word forgive is mentioned around 95 times in the KJV according to a quick internet search. Why do you think forgiveness is mentioned so often in the Bible? My thought is, God thinks it is really important and He really wants us to get this message. The verse is very specific to say that just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. That is a pretty tall order and if we think too hard on it we may think we could never forgive as perfectly as the Lord forgives. This is probably true. However, can we at least try? Is there someone that you need to forgive and you haven’t yet? Is there something that you are holding onto that you could let go of?
Next it says, “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” If we clothe ourselves with love, forgiveness comes easier. Love binds everything together in perfect harmony. This reminds me of 1 Corinthians 13:13 “But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Again the Lord is saying, above all, clothe yourself with love. Yes, be kind and compassionate, be meek and humble, be patient, but above all clothe yourself in love. Love is so important. I believe if we had more love and less hate in the world we wouldn’t have so much evil. We wouldn’t be so divided. So many of the world’s problems could be solved if we were all filled with love.
Mother Teresa has a quote that I really like that says, “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” How can you spread more love into the world? Can you bring love into all the small things you do throughout the day? Can you do the dishes with love? Can you do the laundry with love? Can you clean the bathrooms with love? Sometimes when we are doing these every day tasks, we can feel frustrated that we have to do them. We can be resentful that others aren’t doing them. What if we tried to do all things with love? Another quote from Mother Teresa is “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” The world needs more love and it can start with you in your home. If people feel loved, they will pass on that love. If they do not feel loved, they will have no love to pass on. We need to spread as much love as we can in the world.
The next line says, “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.” Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Be honest, how is this going for you? It seems it is not going to well for a lot of people these days. COVID is creating a lot of anxiety for a lot of people. People who have it are anxious about their symptoms, about whether they will heal or not, whether the symptoms will ever go away or if they will stay forever. People who do not have it are anxious about if and when they will get it, will they pass it to their loved ones. People worry if they should go places, if they should attend important events. There is so much anxiety. I wish we could all let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. It is available to us, we just have to accept it. Can we trust that God is in control? Can we trust that some things, like COVID we don’t have any control over. Well, there are some things we can do to try to lower our chances of getting it, but overall, we are not in control. I know it is hard to give up control of our worries and our anxieties. However, it feels so amazing when we are able to let the peace of Christ rule our hearts. I promise you won’t be sorry if you trade in your worries for the peace of Christ.
The verse ends with saying, “And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Be thankful is a great way to end a verse. Praise and thanksgiving are such important parts of our relationship with our heavenly Father. He does so much for us and it is so great when we are able to thank Him. If you are feeling stuck and feeling like you could be closer to the Lord, but not sure how, may I suggest you develop a daily practice of gratitude? What do you have to be grateful for? How many things can you come up with in a minute? Can you come up with 5 things everyday? The other thing that has really helped me grow closer to the Lord is praise. I listen to praise music a lot. I also am part of a charismatic prayer group and we praise out loud together each week. I try to add praise to my prayers. The verse ends by saying that whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. I wonder if we would act differently if we thought of this verse before we did anything? I wonder if we would do things differently, treat people differently, think about what we said before we said it, if we remembered that we were to do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus? What do you think? Would you act differently if you did all things int he name of Jesus?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those that are listening to this episode today. Lord help us to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience and above all Love. Lord, help us to forgive not only our loved ones, but our enemies too. If we struggle with this Lord, help us turn to you. Help us to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. We need more love and peace in the world Lord, help us to spread your love and peace to all we encounter. Help us to praise and thank you Lord. Help us to do all things in Jesus’ holy name. We love you Lord, you are truly amazing. We are nothing without you. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow. Have a blessed day!