On Purpose
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Colossians 3:16-17
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts 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.
Wow. These instructions place a tremendous responsibility upon us in terms of how we operate in the world and interact with the other occupants of said world, don’t they! Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Does that give you pause? It certainly makes me stop and think about all the various interactions I’ve had in the last 24 hours. And guess what: a majority of them don’t measure up!
Now I do certainly sing spiritual songs – well . . . I hum them . . . constantly. I do have thankfulness in my heart too. The challenge is to express that thankfulness with
intention, on an ongoing basis. There’s that word
intention again. I could really dislike that word. How about you? Intentional means deliberate, with forethought and planning. It means on purpose. Ouch. Using that idea to review my past 24 hours, I would like to rewind and reframe and redo quite a bit!
Teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. The wisdom referred to here is not our own wisdom. It doesn’t say that everyone is entitled to our opinions about anything and everything. It means that we are to use Spirit-inspired, Spirit-gleaned wisdom. Speaking only for myself, if I only spoke Spirit-inspired, Spirit-gleaned wisdom . . . I would speak much less often, and in a different tone, and with different words.
Really these verses can be summed up with “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” When Christ dwells in us richly we can’t help but be joyful, loving, peaceable, gentle and kind. I’m not speaking from any authority here – only what I imagine and strive for! When Christ dwells in you richly, your entire life is influenced and overtaken by the gift of God’s grace through Christ. It’s radically different than how the world operates. It turns all conventional wisdom on its ear.
In this vision of the world, there is no war, no poverty, no hunger, no violence or abuse, no elitism, racism, sexism or any other kind of oppression. I know this is all pie-in-the-sky thinking. But if we don’t at least think it, how will it ever come to pass? If we don’t talk about it and hope for it how will we ever make it through this life? It’s all too easy to believe that we can’t do anything that will make a difference, not as just one person. That’s a cop-out, though on some level, isn’t it? Perhaps the way I treat others won’t end world hunger, but it will be one less thing wrong with the world! That’s a more manageable way for me to view the consequences of what I say and do.
There are individuals right now working to make a positive difference in the world. Some of them are former presidents; some of them are famous, influential people who are given a voice by the media. But many of them are essentially nameless and faceless. They work in the trenches, so to speak. They provide care to the sick, injured or dying. They feed the hungry and minister to them in tangible, concrete ways, as well as to their spirits. We don’t see them, we don’t hear about them, but there are thousands of them all over the world. They are each one person, making a difference. They are each striving for the kind of world we hope for and long to create.
My prayer today is that you will be one just one person who makes this world a better place. And that you do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Mary
