“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
How you see another person can change the way you treat them.
If someone is simply an inconvenience, patience becomes difficult. If you see someone primarily through the hurt they have caused, resentment comes easily. But when you remember that this is someone you love, someone who matters deeply to you, you often respond differently.
I’ve seen a lot of dating couples in my years. This concept may be most evident when observing a newly dating couple. Nothing the other person does is wrong or annoying. Instead, they are quirky and the way they pick their nose is kinda cute. 😉
Something similar happens in the Christian life. Hopefully, without the nose picking.
How we understand our identity shapes how we live and how we treat others.
Paul is about to give the Colossians a long list of things he wants to characterize their relationships:
But before he tells them what to do, he reminds them who they are.
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved…”
Those words come first.
God does not say, “Become compassionate and patient, and then perhaps you will become one of My chosen people.”
He calls you chosen, holy, and beloved…actually, He makes you chosen, holy, and beloved, before He gives a single command.
That order is crucial for us to understand.
You are beloved because God has loved you in Christ. You are holy because Christ has taken your sin and given you His righteousness. You are God’s chosen one because your salvation rests in His gracious decision to rescue sinners, not in anything you have done.
This is the identity from which the Christian life grows.
Paul then describes what that life begins to look like. Christians bear with one another. They forgive one another. And when Paul explains why, he does not point them back to a rule. He points them to Jesus:
“as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”
We give what we have first received.
That is especially important when loving another person becomes difficult. It’s relatively easy to be patient with someone who rarely tests your patience. Forgiveness sounds wonderful until someone actually sins against you.
In those moments, Paul does not simply tell us to dig deeper and become nicer people. He takes us back to Christ.
Remember how patiently He has dealt with you and the sins He carried to the cross. Remember the forgiveness He continues to speak to you through His Word and Absolution.
Then, from what you have received, love your neighbor.
In addition, these words aren’t just for you. Every Christian is chosen, holy, and beloved and every person is a creation of God who is loved by God. That is who THEY are…and that affects how you treat them.
You will not do this perfectly. The old sinful nature remains, and there will be plenty to confess along the way. But your failures do not erase the identity God has given you.
You are still His.
Chosen. Holy. Beloved.
And because you know how Christ has treated you, you are free to begin treating others in the same way.
Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for calling me Your own and loving me through Your Son. When I am tempted to measure my worth by my performance, remind me that my identity rests in Your grace.
Fill me with compassion and patience toward the people You place in my life. When they sin against me, remind me how freely Christ has forgiven me. Remind me who they are to You and help me to extend that forgiveness to them.
Above all, clothe me with love, that my life may reflect the love You have first shown to me in Jesus.
Amen.
As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:
After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
