Thoughts for the Day

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs 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.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

We're were in the depths yesterday, looking at those sins that Paul identifies as needing to be sorted out. These come from 'things on earth' he says, and he looks at them first, before getting back to the positive attributes. He reminds the Colossians and us that we are God's 'Chosen ones'. Many of us will remember being chosen as children, by a leader to play on their team at school; or in the playground to join a particular group; or by a popular child to be their friend. The person who makes the choice does so for a reason. It's not a blind lottery.

So it is that God has chosen us for a purpose. We don't deserve it, but having been chosen we have to live up to that choice, and pull out all the stops to do the best we can to live up to His decision. We know we have done nothing to earn this honour, and we cannot manage without His help, but having acknowledged our faults we turn from them to look at how we should clothe ourselves with the things from above.

Paul mentions six things in particular. As God's chosen ones we are to be compassionate, kind, humble, meek and patient, and overall to measure everything by love! If yesterday's demands were hard, these might be even harder, but as His chosen we are to really try - with our family, our work colleagues, and our church community. Perhaps we can work this week on one attribute, maybe the one that we find most difficult?

Lord Jesus Christ,
You call us to follow You
to a life that reflects Your love for us.
When we forget this,
remind us that living a life of love
means we should be compassionate and kind to all people;
learn to be meek and humble;
walk the way of those who are patient;
and learn to 'clothe' all that we do with love.
Amen.