Colossians 3.12-17
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,13 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. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 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.
ESV
This passage is the opposite of what we looked at from the previous devotional regarding the behaviors listed in verses 5-9.
Please take a moment to read through this passage with deliberation: put on…, bearing…., forgiving…, put on love…, let the peace of Christ rule your heart…, be thankful…, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…, and whatever you do…
It’s easy to read this passage and sum it up with the thought to be nice or kind to each other. However, that’s not the point. If we really think about this passage this is heavy lifting for us and it’s going to take real strength and dedication and commitment to live and follow Christ this way.
The truth is, we can’t do this on our own strength. We need something more. We need the Spirit at work within us to do this with any kind of consistency for those that we love, let alone those with whom we struggle or even those who are our enemies.
There is no picking and choosing what I want to apply when it comes to these verses. This is an “all in” prescription for us as disciples of Christ.
It doesn’t mean that we are to be door mats and let people walk all over us. What it means, as we live out these prescriptions in our relationships, is that we have love and care and forgiveness on the front burner when we interact with each other, with difficult people, with thorny issues, or outright situations of confrontation.
There are those that we love and it’s easy to consider them as we read this passage, but what about the folks that are more challenging for us?
There are also some very cool things to notice in these couple of verses. “Forgive” is listed twice. There are commands to bear with each other, to clothe or put on the same character as Christ. Twice, the word “let” appears in the passage concerning peace and the Word.
However, the bottom line in all of this is Jesus. Did you notice that? No really, let’s not assume that thought but go back and read through the passage again and notice Paul weaving Jesus through the whole passage in forgiveness (13), love (14), peace (15), and the word (16).
Then hang over all of that verse 17; whatever you do….. in the name of the Lord Jesus… This verse stitches the whole thing together.
Honestly, without a relationship with Jesus, we can’t authentically do any of those things listed in the passage. To be sure, there are moments where I can muster up enough patience, love, compassion, peace, and forgiveness…, but if we’re being honest, we must recognize our limits. It’s our relationship with and love for Jesus that allows us to live out everything that Paul wants for us in all of our relationships. That makes for great leadership and wise decision-making, and it makes you look incredibly good, too!
There are those who say that following Jesus is the easy way out, or that it’s a “crutch because you can’t manage the challenges of life on your own.” I can’t think of anything that requires more strength than to live for Jesus because we must come to the point of realizing our own weaknesses and short comings in this regard; then to be forgiving, loving, patient and humble—tough stuff to do and to carry through.
But that’s why we have Jesus! We can’t do this on our own, however that doesn’t mean that we can lay down and expect Jesus to pick up the slack for us. It means that Jesus comes alongside us and pulls with us. In fact, we need to constantly pursue our relationship with Jesus because we simply can’t do any of this on our own, not consistently, and most certainly not genuinely at least. That’s why verse 16 is so critical for us. We really do need to let the word of Christ dwell richly in us.
Make it your habit to read every day and let the word of Christ sink deeply into your heart! Don’t worry about knowing everything; just read and ask the Lord to open your heart and mind and see where He will lead you.
God bless you, and have a wonderful day!
Scott