Colossians 3:12-17

12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.



Dig Deeper

The students were complaining that their U.S. History class was too demanding. The work was too hard, there was too much of it, and they had to work hard in class every single day. On top of that the expectations inside the classroom when it came to behavior were very demanding. They had to respect one another both in their words and their actions. This meant helping one another, being respectful of how much they were using classroom resources for themselves, and even being quiet so that other students could work. Some complained that they were being expected to act like nerds, cause that's the only type of students that would do all of those things. So, for a couple of days, I gave them their wish. We let all rules go out the door. If they wanted to play the stereo they could. If they wanted to talk, even if meant disturbing or poking fun (within reason) at other students, that was okay too. Basically whatever they wanted to do was fair game. There was a big problem after a few days, however, that the students noticed. When left to their own devices and own way of doing things, even though they seemed quite natural, they simply could get done the things that they needed to for class. After just a few days of our experiment, they were begging to go back to the order of the way they once considered oppressive and for the weak.

Paul is in the midst of exhorting the young Christians in Colosse to continue the process that they began at their baptisms of throwing off the clothes of their old lives and to clothe themselves with the new wardrobe of their lives in Christ. Many people in their society, and in ours today, look at the sorts of things that Paul calls them to in their new life, things like kindness, gentleness, humility, and patience, and put down people who would live lives filled with those things as weak and annoying. If given a choice between living in a world where people lived like that or in a world characterized by the types of deviant sexual, emotional, and speech behavior that Paul described in verses 5-9, they would claim to choose the latter. The claim would be that at least in the second choice, people would be free and real and not a bunch of weak-willed wimps. Yet, the reality is that those sinful practices that Paul describes are the type of things that tears communities apart and destroy them. Untamed sexual practices and uncontrolled emotions and speech rip apart relationships and societies at the seems.

Years ago, the then governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, mad a big splash in the media by saying that Christians were weak people who needed a mental crutch because they couldn't or didn't want to think for themselves. People who want to live their lives indulging in the sins of the flesh, will quite often, in quiet moments of candid truth, admit that they, despite all of their so-called freedom, feel lost, bitter, confused, sad, and lonely. On the other hand, those who choose to live according to the life of Christ, embracing the sorts of characteristics that Paul has described are hardly weaklings. To choose the way of Christ is much harder, much more demanding than to simply give into whatever whim catches our fancy at the moment.

Think of what it would really take to live the sort of life to which Paul calls those in Christ. What does it take to show compassion when someone does not deserve any? What does it take to show kindness when someone has wronged you or patience when everything is crumbling around you? What does it take to forgive someone who has deeply wronged you? The answer is it takes the Holy Spirit, prayer, and genuine moral strength. In fact, people who are genuinely capable of such responses in the face of evil and chaos are the type of people who are strong-minded and more capable of making decisions in other difficult areas of life. Self-indulgence may seem like more fun, but it strips people of their genuine humanity. Those who are in Christ, are not enslaved or weak-minded, quite the opposite. They are more capable for the difficult demands of life and, in effect, more human.

Rather than engaging in behaviors like sexual or emotional indulgence that pervert genuine humanity, God's people should live out the virtues of the life of Christ, which is bound all together in perfect unity by love. Paul's point here is similar to Ephesians 4:2-3, 15-16, where he says that love is the manifestation and evidence of a new life in Christ, and the very thing which leads to maturity and unity in his body. The virtues of the life of Christ will simply be a fleeting parody of what God really wants for us unless they are anchored by genuine love. The only way to realize the unifying effect of the life of Christ is to live a life where love is our motivation and foundation.

The ruling factor in the life of a Christian should not be our feelings or desires, which are notoriously misleading and dangerous, but the peace of Christ. The peace Paul refers to comes from Christ so it provides an inner peace for each believer, despite the circumstances that surround us. It is to rule, therefore, and guide the decisions that we make. Those at peace with themselves will be at peace with others. That means that when the people of Christ have grievances against one another, and we will, we should be settled already that the peace of Christ will rule over that situation. The fact is, those who have entered into Christ, will be offended or hurt by others in the body. We are called to lives of peace, though, because we have love for God. We treat others with kindness, patience, peace, and love because we are loyal to God not based on how they treat us. If we based our behavior towards others on how they treated us or on our feelings, we will quickly become dehumanized, even in the body of Christ. We must let the love and peace of Christ rule over the body of Christ because our loyalty to God reigns over our lives and our behavior.

This community of love and peace doesn't happen automatically, though. It takes effort. IT takes knowledge, thought, and discipline which come as we teach and admonish one another. This, of course, will take many forms and should not be inappropriately limited to one pet way that someone might have for administering the wisdom of God to one another. It could be through teachers, through Bible classes, through deep relationships, through Christian mentoring, or many other ways. Christians should also pass on the expectations of the Christian community through the songs that we sing and the gratitude that is displayed in our hearts to God. Paul's point is that the indwelling word of God, the true gospel, will manifest itself through teaching one another and through proper worship of God.

Rather than leaving a detailed list of rules, virtues, and vices that would rule over the Christian community, Paul gives principles which, as thinking people, Christians will be able to discern and think through whatever you do, whether in word or deed. If Christians were just following a set of rules, they could do so without thinking about it, without really loving God, and without investing much of themselves into it. No, the Christian life is not for a bunch of weak-minded, crutch-needing people. It is a demanding life that can only be lived by discerning and wise people who have wrestled with the difficult situations of life and have learned torespond to them in a manner befitting the life of Christ.



Devotional Thought

To what degree do you see evidence of the fruit of the Christian life that Paul mentions here in your life? Which areas do you most struggle with? Remember also that there must be a balance to these virtues. To have compassion doesn't mean be a soft touch; to be kind isn't being a doormat; to be gentle and patient doesn't mean be weak and get trampled on. The balanced life of Christ means to display these virtues with the balance and strength of Christ.