Thursday Thought -- December 18, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

With my job it isn’t too hard to remember that I’m working for the Lord. At least that’s true most of the time. Still, there are times when the job is unpleasant and unappreciated and it’s easy to forget Whom I’m serving. Like the times I’ve spent over a clogged toilet in one of the church restrooms … plunging. Like the times I’ve spent checking to be sure all the doors are secure before leaving the church property. Like the times I’ve spent sweeping the sidewalk or mopping a floor. Those bits of my job are just as much about serving the Lord as preaching and praying and talking with people about the Lord. It’s just harder to remember that perspective at those times!

You may struggle with the same problem with your perspective and attitude at times. Maybe it’s hard to connect your job with the Lord. Maybe parts of your job are unpleasant and unappreciated. Maybe parts of your job are boring and laborious. It’s hard to keep focused on the fact that those aspects of your job can be done to the Lord just as much as the fun parts of your job and the parts that easily get acclaim.

The Lord is concerned about every aspect of our lives and so every aspect of our lives can be lived for His glory and done as service to Him. That’s true of cleaning bathrooms at home, mowing the yard, changing light bulbs as well as devotional times, prayer, worship and things that seem more spiritual.

Paul’s admonition is to remember that everything can be done as working for the Lord and so everything should be done with all our hearts.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Wednesday Thought -- December 17, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 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. 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.” (Colossians 3:15-17)

Be at peace … be thankful … be in the Word … be helpful … be focused.

Those are great admonitions from the Lord about how to have a life that pleases God and is good for us, too.

Our lives are not improved by contentiousness. We don’t accomplish good things in the lives of others or for the Lord by being critical and hard to get along with. Rather, it is the peaceful spirit that pleases God and improves our lives. Jesus reminded us, it is the peacemakers who are blessed. Is your life characterized more by peace or by contention and criticism?

God has provided us with so many blessing. That’s true for every one of us. Do we respond in a way that takes those blessings for granted as though we deserve them? Is our attitude one of thankfulness? God deserves our thanks and He is pleased when He receives it.

Paul encourages us to let the Word dwell in us and the only way that happens is if we are in the Word on a regular and consistent basis. We often wonder why we struggle to discern God’s will or why we don’t hear God’s voice more frequently or clearly or why we aren’t growing as rapidly as we think we should. Yet we think those things will happen without being disciplined about being in the Word. It just doesn’t happen.

We aren’t responsible for the spiritual lives of others. Each person will give an account of his own life to the Lord. But we can be helpful to each other as we share God’s Word with each other. I need you to be helpful to me and you need me to be helpful to you.

Finally, be focused … let your life be characterized by the desire to please God in everything. That doesn’t leave any area of our lives out. At work … at play … at home … at school … be focused on the Lord.

Those are keys to a healthy and happy … and God-pleasing life.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Tuesday Thought -- December 16, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“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)

People matter to God and how you get along with them matters to Him, too. The characteristics Paul mentions in these few verses are all relationship characteristics. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, love: the development of these character traits will make a huge impact on how we get along with other people.

Every one of these character traits is a reflection of God’s own character and of His relationship with us. Take forgiveness as an example. God calls us to be forgiving people, laying aside the hurts that others have caused us. That’s very difficult to do. The natural thing to do is to hold on to our hurts, to nurse them and make sure others are aware of them, especially the one who caused them. But it doesn’t take a very long look at how God responds to us to note that is not His pattern. There is a pattern of forgiveness in the way God relates to us that He would have us imitate. We are to forgive others “as the Lord forgave you.”

Humility provides another obvious example. If any one ever had a right to put on airs, to let others know who He was, it was Jesus. He knew power and position that we can’t even imagine. Yet, when He entered the earth, He did so as a human being, and not even as a human with power and position, but as a lowly human. He did that for us, to enable us to approach Him and relate to Him. If He can do that, then we can follow His example and steer clear of putting on airs before other people.

Move through the rest of the characteristics listed and you will find each one clearly exemplified in the life of Jesus. He came to show us what God was like and what we should be like as we relate to those around us.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Monday Thought -- December 15, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts 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. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)

Where does your mind dwell?

It’s so easy for our minds to dwell on the things of this world. There is so much input we receive about the things of this world. The things of this world are the reality in which we live – the house needs cleaning, the car needs repairs, the clothes need ironing, the dishes need to be put away. Then we turn on the TV or open up the Internet and we are bombarded by images of this world and reminded of all the things of this world that we don’t have but would really help to make our lives better.

It’s no wonder that so much of our time is spent dwelling on the things of this world.

But God offers us a different choice – a better choice. He invites us to dwell on Jesus and on the things of heaven. When we do that we are drawn closer to God. Our hopes and dreams are renewed for eternity. Even the things of this world take on a different perspective and a different priority.

How do you set your hearts and minds on things above?

Through prayer – in the Word – in worship – by meditating on Jesus.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Friday Thought -- December 12, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.” (Colossians 2:9-13)

You have been given fullness in Christ. Without Christ, life is meaningless and has no purpose. With Christ, God has provided you with the fundamental things that make life worth living. In Him there is a reason to live, there is help for the present, there is hope for the future, there is direction, there is purpose. That’s full life, and it's only found in Christ.

You were circumcised in Christ. For the Jew, physical circumcision identified him as a part of God’s family. In Christ, it is a spiritual circumcision that identifies us as His. It has meaning far beyond anything physical. He has overcome our sinful nature, overpowering it by placing His own nature within us by His Spirit. He is the mark that we are God’s.

You were buried with Christ. The true power of Christ was revealed, not in life, but in His death, and in His conquering of death through the resurrection. We share in that power. We participate in His death and picture that in our baptism. We also participate in His life and His power.

Christ forgave our sins. Without Christ there was nothing we could do about our sins. They controlled us and we could not overcome them. We couldn’t pay for them, we couldn’t hide them, we couldn’t even stop doing them. Christ dealt with our sins for us and offered forgiveness to us as His gift.

How could Christ do all that? There’s only one way: in Him was all the fullness of Deity. Only God could do the things that Jesus did -- and He was -- and is -- God!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Thursday Thought -- December 11, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3)

There is a tremendous amount of wisdom and knowledge in this world. None of us can keep up with the exponential growth of the things that are known. I’m astounded when I stop to think about what is known and done today that wasn’t even imagined 30 years ago. I wonder what kind of wisdom and knowledge will open up in the next 30 years that we don’t even imagine today.

I know people who are incredibly smart. I am humbled by their brilliance and can’t even begin to keep up with what they know.

But here’s the truth that Paul declares to the Colossians – complete understanding of life is not about the amount of wisdom and knowledge that is gained in this world. Complete understanding of life is wrapped up in God’s gift to us – Jesus.

Life is really not about the amount of knowledge that a person can accumulate. It’s not about what we know. Instead, it’s about Who we know. God offers us the opportunity to know Him, through Jesus.

At the end of my life I may have lagged far behind the wisdom and knowledge of this world. I already feel as though I am losing ground. In Jesus, I’ll know everything that truly matters!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Wednesday Thought -- December 10, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” (Colossians 1:28-29)

This short passage represents one of the clearest statements of the purpose and passion of Paul’s life.

Paul gave his life to proclaiming the message of Jesus. He did it with power and persuasion. He did it with great skill and wisdom. There was nothing more important to Paul than telling others about Jesus.

His goal was not to fulfill some obligation to God. It wasn’t about Paul. It was about the need of the people to whom he preached. He longed to see them embrace faith in Jesus Christ. He longed for more than just to see them come to faith – he longed to see them grow to be mature Christians whose attitudes and actions were more and more like those that could be seen in Jesus.

Paul didn’t go at this task half-heartedly. He gave his all to preaching and helping people know and follow Jesus. He labored – he struggled – he gave all the energy he had to this purpose.

God empowered Paul to do it. The power for Paul’s purpose didn’t come from Paul’s own resources, but from the resources provided to him by God.

Paul’s purpose was to preach the Gospel and that was Paul’s passion, too.

God invites us to the same purpose and to the same passion.

His, by Grace,

Steve