March 21, 2023

Scripture: Colossians 3:12-14 – “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.”

What it means

In Paul’s letter to the church at Colossia, he is exhorting them to exhibit the type of behavior that would, ultimately bring a smile to the face of Jesus – compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. These are all expressions that should accomplish just that – but that’s a pretty tall order for most of us. How in the world are we supposed to do all that successfully? Skip back to verse 1 – “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” In other words, change your thought process to be more eternally focused, as opposed to what the world tends to focus on. If our thoughts, our minds, our priorities, are all focused on The Master, then what seems to be virtually impossible at first glance…suddenly seems to flow a little more naturally. With His help, we can do all of that, and more!

What it means to me

Look again at verse 12 – in case you forgot, you are one of God’s chosen people! He chose YOU – and would do it again in a heartbeat. Please, don’t take that for granted…that is significant. So be compassionate, kind, humble, gentle and patient, even if you don’t feel like it always. And as always, when all else fails…love well.Love big. If you do nothing but that, Paul tells us that that’s the great unifier in all of this. That’s what makes all of these other things possible.

Love you guys, talk to you on Thursday!

In Christ,

Brian