Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
The risk and beauty of holiness
Living a holy life has nothing to do with being a religious prude and everything to do with relationships. I grew up with the religious prude model. People were scolded for dishonoring the sacred Christmas season by sending humorous Christmas cards. A quartet broke up because one of the members grew a beard. The call to holy living has always come with great risk of misunderstanding.
Being holy means only that both God and I have set aside my life to only love and to love only in life-giving ways – just the way Jesus did. It’s all about healthy and whole, beautiful and pure relationships.
Perhaps the hardest element in holy living is this business of making allowance for each other’s faults –especially at this moment in history. We are such touchy people! We get offended at everything. And we feel obligated to criticize and condemn every real or perceived fault. Our mouths and our sensitivity reveal an unholy self love – obsession with our own opinions, feelings, likes, insights, and convictions.
Holy people, those who have dedicated their lives to following Jesus so thoroughly that his way of loving defines them, are the best hope for a touchy and fractured society. This is so not because they push a political or social agenda, but because they model what it’s like to live in a community (the church) where people practice mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness! They show the world what it looks like for love to cover a multitude of sins.
Holy God of Love, forgive me when I descend into ugly unholiness. Drive out of my life everything except your love. - Mike Leamon
Mismatched clothes
I like to dress nicely but sometimes I fail to understand the rules of matching. The things I pick out to wear together, I am informed by wife, do not always go together. Sometimes it is the tie I pair with the shirt or the shirt I pair with the pants, but either way, when my wife sees me wearing something that does not work, I am sent back upstairs for a change of ensemble.
Paul encourages us to clothe ourselves with the things of God. Peace, joy, holiness, righteousness and other godly traits. I like wearing these new clothes God has placed in my wardrobe, but neither do I want to give up the old clothes that I have become so accustomed to wearing. Like the old T-shirts in my closets with stains and tears, I want to hold onto the old things in my.
When I mismatch God’s clothes and my personal favorites from the past, God sends me back to the dressing room. A verse of Scripture reminds me I am not matching well. A person remarks on my bad attitude and the Holy Spirit whispers I need to change my shirt. The good news is that God has supplied me with a completely new wardrobe free of charge courtesy of Jesus Christ. So why should I wear the old dirty clothes anymore, God has given me new clothes for every situation in my life.
Holy God and wardrobe supplier, I confess my tendency to go back to the old clothes in my life. Help me to give up the old clothes completely and to eliminate them from my closets. Replace these attitudes and habits in my life with your perfect love and mercy as you fit me with new clothes fit for employment in your Kingdom. - Dan Jones
1 comment:
Maybe we should ALL try to stop taking the sliver out of our bretherns eye and worry about the log in our own. Many times what we dislike in others is what they too dislike in us. And now where does that get us? We need to put down our stones!
"Assumptions are the termites of relationships." Isn't this so sad! Satan wants to conquer and divide and we allow it to happen.
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