Kevin's Kommentary: Colossians 3:12-17 The Christian Life = August 4

The Christian Life
Colossians 3:12-17

Intro Questions

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God is ... What do we learn about God in this passage?
We are ... What do we learn about people in this passage?
I will ... What has the Holy Spirit revealed to us in this passage? How can I apply it to my life this week?
You can ... Who do you know who needs to hear this? Feel free to share with others by social media links at the bottom of this.

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An Amazing Solution by Chris Stinnett

Kai Baldwin was watching the news at home in Vernal, Utah, and saw a report about the extreme flooding in Nebraska. It distressed him to think that farmers wouldn’t be able to feed their livestock because a bridge washed away. He was willing to give all the money he possessed to help, but Kai is only six years old and his life savings amounted to $3.21. He went door to door to solicit donations and bumped his donation up to $285.28, which he mailed to the Nebraska Farm Bureau Disaster Relief Fund. When the news reported the charming story, it sparked a thought in Jesse Wise.

Wise lives in Culpepper, Virginia, and runs a farm and a metal recycling business. He had just dismantled a perfectly good 43-foot bridge and thought maybe it could be better used in Nebraska than simply cut up for scrap. It took several phone calls and some convincing that it was not some sort of prank call, but finally Craig Bartels, a County Commissioner near Belden, Nebraska, said, “Yeah, we’ll take it.” Wise then split the moving expenses with Read Transportation to move the bridge 1000 miles. Bartels is not sure where the bridge will go, but he’s certain it will be put to good use. Kai Baldwin’s $3.21 sacrifice brought imaginative kindness and an amazing solution from warm-hearted people far away.

“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 NIV).

Most people want to do good things and to be compassionate. Often, they just don’t see the connection between the need that exists and their own ability to meet the need. And then an example, or an encouragement, or a chance encounter stimulates the thought of personal responsibility. Once that fuse is lit, there is no telling what will happen next. God has a way of opening doors and breaking barricades for us to help others. In our era of instantaneous communication, the world can become very much smaller and neighbors in need seem to live very much closer.

The drive for compassion is mistakenly imagined to be a normal human attitude. In fact, selfishness is normal; compassion is the gift of our loving God. Because we are God’s people we act like Him in kindness, gentleness and patience. The entire idea of forgiveness is foreign to most human relations. Only God has demonstrated that power, most especially in His Son, Jesus Christ. He calls us to imitate Him and to live in virtue rather than grasping cruelty. Then, when goodness prevails and kindness is obvious, people realize that’s the way the world was meant to be. And that warm-hearted regard for the problems of others can result in amazing solutions to seemingly insurmountable difficulties. But then God specializes in amazing solutions to insurmountable problems. That’s why He allowed His Son to die in our place, so that final and ultimate forgiveness can come to us. There is no solution greater than our Father’s.

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Giving Thanks

From 1618 to 1648 the Thirty-Years War washed across Europe. It involved armies from Norway to Spain and from the Netherlands to Czechoslovakia. More than eight million people died, most of them in central Europe and most of them from disease and famine rather than warfare. Near Leipzig in the east of what is now Germany, the walled city of Eilenburg was considered a refuge from the conflict that loomed nearby in the 1630s. And then an epidemic broke out in the besieged city.
Because of the twisted oddities of Lutheran polity then, once the main official fled the city and two other clergy died, an obscure junior clergyman named Martin Rinkart became the last surviving man authorized to conduct funerals. He did at least 4,480 funerals, sometimes as many as 40 or 50 per day. In May 1637, one of those funerals was for his wife. Late that same year, he wrote one of his 66 surviving hymns, a prayer to be sung by his starving children as they rationed out meager scraps. The first verse:
“Now thank we all our God, With hearts and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things hath done, In whom this world rejoices.
Who, from our mother’s arms, Hath led us on our way
With countless gifts of love, And still is ours today.”—trans. Winkworth
“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 3:16-17 NIV).
Gratitude isn’t some transient attitude that grows in good times and fails in hard times. It’s a habit of the mind and heart that finds joy in the smallest of blessings. In the U.S., we celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday of November each year. The day is filled with good food, family gatherings, reunions, knots of conversation and the general sense that all is well. And that’s a very good thing and a good thing to enjoy.
Yet our gratitude will be on display in our lives throughout the year. God has blessed us and continues to bless us in myriad ways that we can see and many, many more that are hidden from us. Through Him we have life and joy and peace and every good thing. Even better, through Him we have the assurance of forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ our Lord. Whether we sit down at a table covered in rich food or enjoy a simple meal with those we love, every day is cause for thanksgiving. All our days should be exercises in living life in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving Day holiday and I hope your gratitude continues to encourage you throughout your life.

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