Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3: 12-14, NIV.
Dear God, today as we come into Your presence, we ask that Your Holy Spirit will draw near to us, and teach us to love as You love. Also teach us how to verbally express our love. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
It is obvious that Paul is writing to new converts. What is beautiful to observe is his method of empowering them by identifying them as, “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly beloved!” What a description! They have not only been chosen. They are also holy. And to top it all, they are dearly beloved! It is not hard to imagine these church members becoming everything that the apostle is saying about them.
I can only long for the day when people will be going to church and listening to a sermon that combines these beautiful terms of endearment. But I can also imagine conversations like these taking place between husband and wife, and between parents and children. This kind of conversation is empowering both ways: from the one in authority, to the one in subjection (parent to children); from the shepherd to the sheep (pastor to congregation); between equals (husband to wife; and wife to husband). Notice also that his message is not compromising principle. He is encouraging them to live godly lives. However, notice that he is not using his words to beat them; but to bless them.
What is so significant about this particular situation, is the fact that there was a time when the lives of these members was in disrepair. There was a time when they were “dead in their sins.” We know this for two reasons. At the beginning of chapter three, Paul is advising them, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (1-3). They had to die to the life of sin and death; in order to be brought back to life, in Christ. He also reminded them, “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived” (7).
The apostle is using language very carefully; very intentionally; very lovingly. That is why he is able to empower them. Note that even as he “reminds” them of their former way of life, he makes a point of letting them know that it is what they used to do, once upon a time! It is a thing of the past. That is what Paul keeps before them, “You are no longer who you used to be!” Can you imagine what that would mean to new members coming into the church to constantly be reminded of their new way of life? What a congregation of overcomers we would produce if we only held them in the bond of love!
Paul could admonish them to, “over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity[,]” because he had demonstrated to them the results in his own life. He was a worthy example for them to emulate, of one whose life was being held together in the bond of love!