Holy and Beloved
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Colossians 1:9-109. For this reason also, since the day we heard [of it], we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10. so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please [Him] in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Colossians 3:12-1312. And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13. bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Have you ever taken a job or agreed to lead a committee or organize a function only to realize you were in way over your head? Paul apparently never felt that way when he was bringing others to Christ! In his letter to the Colossians, he takes great care spelling out what kind of lives believers should be living. He doesn’t claim to live like this absolutely, but he certainly tried harder than most at that time or since. He was so grateful for his conversion, he dedicated literally every moment of his life and every ounce of energy working to encourage others to accept God’s amazing grace, manifested in Jesus.
Paul prays for the Colossians to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit n every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;” This is what God expects of us as well. That’s a pretty tall order in my book! Paul is painstakingly clear on what qualities one acquires and demonstrates when one is living a life worthy of the Lord. To my mind, rather than get better, the detailed explanation of those qualities make it even harder!
I don’t have a problem ticking off each of the qualities listed in the second scripture passage. I do try to be compassionate, kind, humble gentle and patient. Of course, once I leave the house in the morning I often have trouble remembering this list! In all honesty, once I get out bed, I forget it all too often! But notice Paul uses a particular tense; he doesn’t want us to be compassionate, he wants us to be compassion. He doesn’t tell us that we are to be kind and humble, but rather we will be kindness and humility. When people look at us and how we live our lives, Paul prays they will see these qualities manifested in us.
Being a Christian is hard. God expects us to exude forgiveness, patience, gentleness, humility, kindness and compassion, just as Christ surely did. Exude means to project or display conspicuously or abundantly; radiate. Do you radiate these qualities? Have you abundantly manifested these characteristics in your life? Is your heart so full of gratitude and reverence that the world can easily identify you as “different”?
But there’s more! Not only are we to possess these qualities and to live them out each and every day, we are also required to bear fruit and increase in the knowledge of God! Now that’s really pushing the envelope, don’t you think? I guess if we spent all of our time and energy and resources toward accomplishing this kind of life and lifestyle, we wouldn’t have time for anything else! Well . . . God is a jealous God. He doesn’t want anything else in our lives! He wants us to work to bring about His kingdom on earth. And even tells us how. We just need to figure out how to be a little less human and a little more divine. No small feat.
This truth is why it’s so important to belong to a small group or a community of believers. We all need support, encouragement, direction and correction. Who better to walk with us than another believer striving to bear fruit and increase in the knowledge of God? Who are your friends? Who do you socialize with? Who do you work with? That’s where we start to do God’s work, both by influence and direct action. We attempt to live a worthy life so that others will see how they can gain access to the kingdom. By exhibiting all the qualities we’ve discussed, we leave the door open from someone to ask us, what is the source of our strength and joy? How do we do it? How can we in light of everything bad in the world?
Our answer? We are each chosen by God, holy and beloved, made in his image. He loves us so much he sent Jesus to die on the Cross. That’s we need to say. That opens the door. The Holy Spirit will determine whether or not your questioner enters.
My prayer today is that you remember you are holy and beloved. And that you are conspicuously kind, gentle, humble, patient and compassionate with yourself and everyone you meet.
Mary
Labels: Christ, compassion, gentleness, God, Holy Spirit, humility, Jesus, kindness, patience
Here Am I!
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2 Timothy 3:1-5
1. But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress. 2. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3. inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, 4. treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5. holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people.
1 Chronicles 16:35
Say also: "Deliver us, O God of our salvation, and gather and save us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise.
Year after year I think to myself that surely things can’t get much worse in the world. Year after year I’m proven wrong! I never cease to be amazed at human capacity to destroy and defile not just each other, but everything in our wake. The anger and arrogance, recklessness and blatant lack of awareness of who we are and whose we are is stunning. And year after year we manage to escalate our mindless, soulless disregard for each other and our world to a new level.
Isn’t that the first response to the evening news? Threats of yet another war somewhere in a land far away, the latest escapades of a spoiled and misguided movie star, drought, famine, starvation, earthquakes, bridge collapses, HIV/AIDS, ethnic cleansing, global warming and on and on and on. Do you ever find yourself thinking these must be the last days? Where are the lovers of God? Where are the peacemakers and the healers? What happened to our life?
Well, I have a feeling we haven’t hit rock bottom yet! Sadly, we’re not even close to bottom! So what is our alternative to being victimized and sucked in to the ways of the world? How do we live a life worthy of God’s grace when all around us there is a glaring lack of evidence that it even exists? I think the verse from Chronicles would be a good place to start. Call out to God for our deliverance; our personal deliverance, and the deliverance of God’s world.
There are plenty of reasons to adopt a woe is me attitude. I can understand why so many may be hopeless and disillusioned. At first glance it does appear as if God has left us alone and on our own. That’s why it’s so important to surround ourselves with other Christians. Without a church family and a faith community, we have no place to go, no comfort or reassurance, no hope for the future. Unless we can counter what the world tells us with a reminder of what Christ tells us, we can become hopeless, distraught, afraid and discouraged.
Timothy was written a couple of thousand years ago! And the world is still here. Mankind is still alive and kicking! Somehow we’ve managed to survive. God’s incredible grace has sustained us through the ages. God has sent to live among us today people like Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela, medical missionaries and doctors without borders, The Red Cross and volunteer aid workers, prayer warriors and nameless, faceless saints whose names we’ll never know. God’s people are in the world. They labor for His kingdom. They are
doing something to make this world a better place to live in.
We are called to be a people apart. Not separate from the world, but apart from it. We are to live by a higher calling. We are to be the face of God to a fallen and sin-filled world. We are to be the difference. We are to call out to God on behalf of those who cannot or will not do so.
”He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”[Micah 6:8] “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."[Isaiah 6:8]
The world is calling out for you. Pick a cause; make a donation; say a prayer. Do something. Be the one who does justice, loves kindness and walks humbly with your God.
My prayer today is that you will respond “Here am I!” when the world calls out. And that you give thanks to God’s holy name and rejoice in His praise.
Mary
Labels: drought, faith, famine, grace, HIV/AIDS, justice, kindness, missionary, war
