Friday October 29, 2010

Read Colossians 3:14

Whether we like it or not, or choose to believe it or not, our walk with the Lord is much like a staircase - it’s either going up or down, but it’s never stagnant! How’s your relationship with God? Is it going up or down?  Now you may think that this is a strange question to ask in the midst of a passage that is talking mainly about my relationship with others. But read vs 14 slowly and carefully in context.

To love others, to be kind and compassionate towards others, to be gentle and patient with them and to forgive them and to put up with them is not something that I naturally possess within myself. I am by nature self centred and biased towards self gratification. As I grow closer to God, His love and His grace allows me to love others, to forgive and to share and to be kind and compassionate and so on. The more I receive from Him, the more I can give to others.

When the Word tells us to bind up all these other centred things, it’s calling us to bind them up and secure them with the love of Christ that has been poured into my heart. Love of God is the anchor that holds me near to God and allows me to continue serving, giving, forgiving etc without being hardened and embittered by sin’s deceitfulness. Love of God is the motivation and foundation that keeps me going in selfless service and sacrificial giving. Without that love I will naturally spiral downwards into “self.” Notice that the terms used in vs 5 are all things that seek to fulfil and meet my natural and earthly desires? Notice that none of these things leads to selfless service and sacrificial love?

Prayer:-

ÿ Pray that the individual Presbyterian Churches throughout your area will be united and bound together in love. Pray that they will work together for the cause of the gospel  and to grow the kingdom. Pray that this will glorify Christ.

ÿ Pray that our brothers and sisters in Iran will be able to show the love of Christ to those who persecute them and who seek to remove them from the land. Pray that God’s love will melt hard hearts and bring many to Himself in repentance and faith in Christ.