Rich Word Living Inside!

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16 NKJV).

Whenever people see or hear those of us who proclaim to have a relationship with God, they should see and hear someone who has rich word living inside of them–always thinking before speaking, allowing Holy Spirit to dictate what we say and do. They should hear and see us teaching and correcting one another through the songs we sing and in every message that God gives us to speak.

What do others see in us, really? I’m inclined to believe that not many who know God, know how to represent that relationship in such a way that it doesn’t appear to be one of superiority. When we speak, is every word condemnation or invitation? When we do things is for the glory of self or God? Are we truly compassionate people or are we like those who cross the street to keep from getting involved?

How can we expect God’s mercy to overflow in our lives when we cannot show mercy to others? Where would we be if–we had received from God what we deserved–rather that benefit from His mercy? I shudder to think where I’d be without His mercy. Therefore, with the mercies we receive every day, would it really be too difficult to show mercy to others? 

I am inclined to believe that when we are incapable of showing mercy to others, refuse to offer assistance when we are in a position to do so, and cannot love–everyone in spite of who they are or what they do; we do not have rich word living inside of us. Rich Word, the Word of God, the Word of Truth, the Word of Love, the Word of Forgiveness, the Word of Mercy, the Word of Faith, the Word of Grace, the Word of Correction–full of wisdom and more valuable than all the jewels that can be found on earth. This rich Word should be living on the inside, always at the ready when we speak or do anything.

Father, in the name of Jesus, help us to gain insight and understanding into Your Word, so we might partake of it daily, and allow it to dwell richly inside of us so we may know how to treat one another.

 

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We Used To Do It!

Reading for today, Colossians 3:4-10, I am reminded of the things that I used to do.  Paul tells the Church at Colosse that when Christ appears, we will appear with Him in glory (raised with a glorified body), but he also reminds them of the things they used to do and should not still be doing because of the new self created in Christ.

The point of this passage of scripture is simply this:  We have a past–used to do some things that were ungodly, illegal, immoral, and unethical.  We used to lie, hold onto anger, bitterness and unforgiveness. But that was then–when we did not know we had a Savior who loved us enough to die for us.  Now that we know, who He is and who we are in Him, none of those things we used to do (in opposition to God and self) should be a part of our new nature. If they are, are we really a new creation or have we just taken up a facade (external attributes), but our thought-life, our inner nature, has not changed?

God knows those who are His and if we are attempting to fool anyone; the only person we fool is ourselves.  When the enemy plants thoughts in our minds, remind him–“I used to do those things, but they are no longer part of my life!”

Now, we can start doing some new things–those things that will glorify God–and assure us of our new nature and then we can look the enemy in the face and say, “Look at me now and see what I am doing right now!” We can defeat the power of the enemy, by not dwelling on the things we used to do, but preparing to do all that God has planned for us!

When cloudy days or thoughts interfere with what you need to do–now, just remember those clouds will go away, when we think brighter thoughts.