Monday, October 16, 2006

Colossians 3:12-17

This passage spoke to me powerfully at the Zoe conference in Nashville. Read it below:

Col 3:12-17
12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let 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. 17 And 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.


For me the peace of Christ ruling in our hearts has captivated my attention. I've tried to think about all the things that go on in life and try to examine to see if the peace of Christ is ruling in that part of my life. There are times when I'm frustrated with something or someone, I get sarcastic and the peace of Christ is far from my heart in that situation. What I find is that the key to the peace of Christ is the qualities that we need to put on as God's chosen people.

As God's chosen poeple, we are not to put on a critical heart or a sarcastic attitude, but compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and above all love. Oh, yeah, and we need to forgive one another.

If we could live with the peace of Christ as the body of Christ, how many things that we complain and grumble about would go away? I am the first to admit that I grumble and complain. The problem is a lack of the peace of Christ.

I want to encourage all of you to find the peace of Christ and let it rule all of your life, even the grumbling and complaining parts of your life.

2 comments:

Josh M said...

Bret,

Thanks for the "hello." It's been a long time... about 3 kids long.

I miss you guys every year that I go back to PBC.

It's good to know that if I ever have car trouble in Dallas, I know who to track down...

Say hey to Summer for me.

Josh Murphy

summer said...

i think it was the peace of God that touched me the most during the conference, too. though, for me, it was recognizing the strange peace during my difficult times over the last year or two. God uses you to bring me peace all the time. thank you,
summer