Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – Colossians 3:1-16
Set – Colossians 3-4
Go! – Colossians 1-4
Colossians 3:1-16
1 So it comes down to this: since you have been raised with the Anointed One, the Liberating King, set your mind on heaven above. The Anointed is there, seated at God’s right hand. 2 Stay focused on what’s above, not on earthly things, 3 because your old life is dead and gone. Your new life is now hidden, enmeshed with the Anointed who is in God. 4 On that day when the Anointed One—who is our very life—is revealed, you will be revealed with Him in glory! 5 So kill your earthly impulses: loose sex, impure actions, unbridled sensuality, wicked thoughts, and greed (which is essentially idolatry). 6 It’s because of these that God’s wrath is coming upon the sons and daughters of disobedience, so avoid them at all costs. 7 These are the same things you once pursued, and together you spawned a life of evil. 8 But now make sure you shed such things: anger, rage, spite, slander, and abusive language. 9 And don’t go on lying to each other since you have sloughed away your old skin along with its evil practices 10 for a fresh new you, which is continually renewed in knowledge according to the image of the One who created you. 11 In this re-creation there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian and conqueror, or slave and free because the Anointed is the whole and dwells in us all.
12 Since you are all set apart by God, made holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a holy way of life: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Put up with one another. Forgive. Pardon any offenses against one another, as the Lord has pardoned you, because you should act in kind. 14 But above all these, put on love! Love is the perfect tie to bind these together. 15 Let your hearts fall under the rule of the Anointed’s peace (the peace you were called to as one body), and be thankful.
16 Let the word of the Anointed One richly inhabit your lives. With all wisdom teach, counsel, and instruct one another. Sing the psalms, compose hymns and songs inspired by the Spirit, and keep on singing—sing to God from hearts full and spilling over with thankfulness.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
It seems that every day there’s news of another shooting. Another terrorist or someone filled with anger loses control and unleashes that anger on the innocent just because they can. Lives face eternity instantly and families are changed for a lifetime. Do I expect you to really live the life Paul talks about in the face of such wickedness in the world? A life of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience? Do I expect you to forgive even those who wreck families forever because of their wonton disregard for life?
The answer is yes. Think about the conditions Paul faced. When he wrote these words he found himself chained to a Roman guard in prison. He didn’t know if he would live or die. He faced trumped up charges of treason against the state, a clear sentence of death if found guilty. After 25 years of following My directions, Paul had been beating, imprisoned, flogged, stoned, and left for dead. But I wasn’t finished with him yet. I still had work for him to do.
What does Paul do with each of his tormentors? He forgives. He tells you to live a life such that your persecutors, your enemies will marvel at your failure to seek revenge for their cruelty. As I did from the cross, Paul understood those who persecuted him didn’t know what they were doing. Satan blinded their eyes. He pulled a veil over them so they could not see the truth of My word and acted out of ignorance. Just look at the actions they took. Plotting murder to uphold their law! How could they justify breaking the law to keep the law? Their blindness caused by Satan’s schemes.
Forgiveness is not for your enemies so much as it is for you. Forgiveness is important for you to move on with your spiritual and emotional health with things go badly for you at the hands of others. They may or may not even know the trouble they’ve caused you and sometimes wouldn’t care if they did. But living a life of unforgiveness hurts you much more than it does them. It creates bitterness in your life. It causes you to think like the world instead of like Me. It keeps you from a life of love.
There’s another important reason to forgive. I told you several times as I walked with you that you would experience forgiveness from Me in the same measure you forgive others. So you need to forgive. You need to let go of vengeance and revenge. You must release your anger and hateful thoughts against your brother. You must forgive the wrongs done against you. I forgive in the same measure you forgive, so you must forgive your brothers and sisters if you want My forgiveness.
It might sound impossible, but not when you give yourself fully to Me. When you let Me control your life, I give you the strength to forgive. I let you see others the way I see them. So you can say, like Paul, Peter, Steven, James, Thomas, John, and all My saints who have gone before you, “Forgive them Father, because they don’t know what they are doing.”
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