October 22, 2018 KINGDOM LIVING part 8
Colossians 3:12-14 “And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And above all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
In the first part of Colossians 3, Paul admonishes the believers to lay aside any sinful practices of their life before being converted to Christ and to consider the members of their earthly body as dead to sin. In the verse above, Paul instructs the believers to put on certain things that are in keeping with those who belong to the Lord. As humans, we often have a tendency to complicate things, and to make things more difficult than they are; it also seems that man has difficulty simply receiving, with no strings attached and without having a sense that he must return the favor, or pay back in some way to the one who gave. Not knowing and under estimating the power of the gospel results in a life of frustration and a life that falls short of the life that God has made available to every believer. We must understand that apart from the Holy Spirit having full sway in our lives and apart from knowing who we are in Christ, we cannot live the Christian life as depicted in the gospel. In a very subtle way, many believe that if they study enough, pray enough, go to church enough, give enough, and etc., they will at some point be pleasing to the Lord and gain His approval; it is like the rabbit chasing the carrot-he never catches it. The gospel that Jesus proclaimed was and is radical-radical to the ways of man, but it introduced to man life in the kingdom of God. Because the gospel contradicted the ways of man and the religion of the day, many rejected the gospel of the kingdom of God. Even in our day, man-made religions and the innate tendency of man to think that in some way he has to earn God’s approval is actually a rejection of the gospel of the kingdom of God. The truth that we must set out mind on is that we, as believers, have been chosen of God and have been made new (not just refurbished) and have been given new hearts, new spirits, and new minds, and have been given the Holy Spirt who leads us, who reveals the things of God, and who empowers us to live the super-natural life of the kingdom of God. We must realize deep within that we have been transferred from the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of God-it has been done! Can we, as the saying goes, ‘ever get it into our thick skulls’ and into our spirits, that we are new creations who are able to live according to the gospel? Yes! We can this moment put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience; we can bear with one another, we can forgive one another, and we can do all the things that please the Lord and that are in keeping with the new people we are. May we grasp the wonderful simplicity of being able to put on the attributes of the kingdom of God.
Ephesians 4:23-24 “and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
Blessings,
Buddy
Colossians 3:12-14 “And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And above all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
In the first part of Colossians 3, Paul admonishes the believers to lay aside any sinful practices of their life before being converted to Christ and to consider the members of their earthly body as dead to sin. In the verse above, Paul instructs the believers to put on certain things that are in keeping with those who belong to the Lord. As humans, we often have a tendency to complicate things, and to make things more difficult than they are; it also seems that man has difficulty simply receiving, with no strings attached and without having a sense that he must return the favor, or pay back in some way to the one who gave. Not knowing and under estimating the power of the gospel results in a life of frustration and a life that falls short of the life that God has made available to every believer. We must understand that apart from the Holy Spirit having full sway in our lives and apart from knowing who we are in Christ, we cannot live the Christian life as depicted in the gospel. In a very subtle way, many believe that if they study enough, pray enough, go to church enough, give enough, and etc., they will at some point be pleasing to the Lord and gain His approval; it is like the rabbit chasing the carrot-he never catches it. The gospel that Jesus proclaimed was and is radical-radical to the ways of man, but it introduced to man life in the kingdom of God. Because the gospel contradicted the ways of man and the religion of the day, many rejected the gospel of the kingdom of God. Even in our day, man-made religions and the innate tendency of man to think that in some way he has to earn God’s approval is actually a rejection of the gospel of the kingdom of God. The truth that we must set out mind on is that we, as believers, have been chosen of God and have been made new (not just refurbished) and have been given new hearts, new spirits, and new minds, and have been given the Holy Spirt who leads us, who reveals the things of God, and who empowers us to live the super-natural life of the kingdom of God. We must realize deep within that we have been transferred from the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of God-it has been done! Can we, as the saying goes, ‘ever get it into our thick skulls’ and into our spirits, that we are new creations who are able to live according to the gospel? Yes! We can this moment put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience; we can bear with one another, we can forgive one another, and we can do all the things that please the Lord and that are in keeping with the new people we are. May we grasp the wonderful simplicity of being able to put on the attributes of the kingdom of God.
Ephesians 4:23-24 “and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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