Putting on the Ritz

Colossians 3: 12 – 13

And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

We are the chosen of God. We have been adopted into the family of God by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus and we are now joint heirs with Abraham. We are holy and beloved. Therefore, God wants us to walk in a manner worthy of our high calling. We are to put on the character of Jesus and walk in Him and in the manner of his calling on us. Our lives should be typified by compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and forgiveness. For these are the characteristics of Christ himself and the life we now live we live in Him. If anyone is lacking in any of these attributes, he should ask of the Lord Jesus and he who gives all freely will anoint you with all you need so that you might also walk in all the grace which he has poured out on mankind. It is a high calling to walk in this kind of grace and fellowship. It is the high calling of Jesus on our lives. So put on Christ and be transformed.

There Go I

Titus 3: 3

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

Paul gives us the perfect example for being patient and kind with others, ourselves We once were just as painful to be around as the unlovely are to us now. I praise God that we are growing and learning to be more like Christ but let us not lose sight of where we were before His grace moved in our lives. We demonstrated all of the undesirable traits above and probably a few more. Now as we are learning to be more like Christ we must learn to love and be kind to people even while they are in an unenlightened state just like Christ was generous and forgiving with us. I do not say that it is always easy but by focusing our attention on those qualities God would have us develop we come up just a bit higher. Set your sights on the heights. You will bless those around you.