Living the Journey

Welcome to Day 14 of The Challenge!

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And above all these things put on charity,
which is the bond of perfectness.
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As you begin reading and meditating on Colossians 3, by the time you get to verse 14 it seems as though the chapter has reached a climax, and it certainly has!!! As we read the scriptures, we all could say that love (or charity, as it is put here) has an extremely important roll in the Christian’s life. But as I really sat down to think about this verse, questions started popping into my mind. “How do you put on love?” “Is it an action or just a fruit of the spirit?” “How do we get love so that we can love others?” Because of these questions, I turned to God’s Word to find the answers.

John 15 came to mind. It is this chapter that has really changed my life and has helped me out of very dark and difficult circumstances. As I began reading this passage of Scripture, the picture of love, how we get it, and how we maintain it all started falling together. Truly love is a fruit of the spirit, but it is only a fruit that comes from an intimate walk with the Lord and obedience to His Word! When we as Christians are able to lay down our own lives in willing submission to following God’s Word, we will find that we will be able to show to others the same kind of love that Christ had for us. Why? Because we are keeping Christ’s Commands! “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”

Then, if we are walking in a close relationship with the Lord by keeping His commandments, we will in no doubt have put on this awesome quality of love.  Because of Christ’s love flowing in and through us, God will be able to use us in ANY situation He would see fit for His glory! But the key to this whole concept of putting on love is this: The depth of our obedience to God’s Word will be the determining factor to the depth of genuine love that Christ can fill us with so that we might be able to be pour it out on others, affecting their lives for eternity!

~ Nate Paine

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Welcome to Day 13 of The Challenge!

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Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another,
if any man have a quarrel against any:
even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

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Have you ever been hurt by someone? Something that felt like a knife was stabbed right through your heart and instantly you had feelings against this person you never thought possible? I remember a time . . . in the not too distant past . . . that one of my best friends said some things that hurt me very deeply. I allowed her words to smolder in my heart for several weeks and took the first couple steps of ruining our relationship. All because I was too proud to budge and refused to accept the grace to forgive.

Forbearance is an act of love; forgiveness means to give graciously, unconditionally, without any strings. God had to take me through a rough lesson that time. He showed me that I was walking in the flesh and not in the Spirit, and it wasn’t until I was willing to let go and humble myself before God and my friend, that I found true freedom. I had to give full control back over to Him, and accept His grace to forgive. I’m least likely to forgive and hold a grudge when I am walking in the flesh, and not yielding my rights to His Lordship and His Spirit.

By the grace of God our friendship as been restored to normal and we both learned a lesson. Each walked away a step wiser from the things God had shown us. Praise the Lord for His “classrooms” though and His never-ending love and forgiveness towards us! He is so patient with His children! As Spurgeon says. . . “Oh, to forgive as we have been forgiven by God. Just as readily, just as freely, just as heartily, just as completely!”

~ Sharon Kelly

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Welcome to Day 12 of The Challenge!

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Put on therefore, as the elect of God,
holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

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Paul is basing the following exhortation upon the fact that we are “chosen, holy, and beloved.” “Like Father, like son” – children should manifest a family resemblance. Therefore, based on our position in Christ (chosen, holy, beloved) this truth should transform our thinking and motivate our talking, walking, and our every action.

Pilots, soldiers, and athletes must dress the part, and so, too, the Christian believer. If the old man has been put off and the new man put on, the moral apparel of the old man must be laid aside and new apparel donned. Clothes do not make the man, but a man is often reflected in his clothes, and Paul would have the new man reflected in new moral attire after the image of Him that created him.

The idea of putting on is to envelope yourself with the following character traits, which in their essence reach their epitome in our Lord Jesus Christ. So wrap these traits around yourself. Become so immersed in Christ, so focused on Him, that you resemble Him in your thoughts, words, and deeds. This is essentially a description of the lifelong process of sanctification.

~ Michael Kelly

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Welcome to Day 11 of The Challenge!

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[A renewal] where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free:
but Christ is all, and in all.

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I was so glad that this verse fell to me. I had no idea what verse I would be writing about but when I saw this verse I knew that I wanted to write about it. I have marked almost all the verses in this chapter, however this held no special meaning for me until I went home for Christmas this year.

I spent 39 hours driving.

That’s a lot of thinking time!

I was thinking about the different ways God created His people–some it would seem “have it all.”

They are charming, goodlooking, smart, with an amazing talent or two . . . or three . . . or ten! No matter what they put their hand to they seem to succeed. They have a knack for opening doors and just plain getting their way.

As I mulled over this personality, which seem to be on top of the world, this verse came to mind. With all their charm and smiles and skills, looks and winsome ways–on their very best day they deserve only the wrath of God, just like the rest of us. Nothing that we possess as a person, no matter how much we understand about how life works or how many people we have on our side makes us any more acceptable. We are neither smart nor stupid before God. We are neither charming nor awkward, talented nor untalented, Jew nor Greek, winsome nor mousey. Christ is all in all.

In Him I am all that He is. Some people can open door for themselves. I know some of those people, but I don’t need that ability because Christ opens the door for me, like a perfect gentleman! He opens the hearts of people in my life and gives me favor in the eyes of my authorities. All I do is gaze upon my Lord and master and like magic the world rolls out before me. As long as He is my all in all I shall never falter or be ashamed. In Him I have all things, for indeed Christ is all in all.

~ Madison Knight

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Welcome to Day 10 of The Challenge!

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And have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him.

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Have you ever noticed that the more you associate with people that have a certain attitude and character, the more you begin to act as they do? Why is this? It is because you begin to think as they think; and as you think, so will you act.

Christ wants to renew our thinking: to take it from fleshly, worldly, selfish thoughts, and renew our minds to think and act in the way and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Walk in the “new man”—in the image of your Creator—and see the great places God will take you and the extraordinary things He will do with your life!

~ Shannon Ehnis

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Welcome to Day 9 of The Challenge!

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Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have
put off the old man with his deeds.

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Definitions:
Lie not one to another: A lie is a false statement with deliberate intent to deceive; an inaccurate or false statement. Another definition is “an imposter.” A lie is an impostor of the Truth.

Put off the old man: “having stripped clean off.” The “old man” has been disarmed.

Scofield: “Lie not one to another (v. 9), for it is contrary both to the law of truth and the law of love, it is both unjust and unkind, and naturally tends to destroy all faith and friendship among mankind. Lying makes us like the devil (who is the father of lies), and is a prime part of the devil’s image upon our souls; and therefore we are cautioned against this sin by this general reason: Seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man”

“The expression [the old man] always means the man of old, corrupt human nature, the inborn tendency to evil in all men. In Romans 6:6 it is the natural man himself; in Ephesians 4:22 his ways. Positionally, in the reckoning of God, the old man is crucified, and the believer is exhorted to make this good in experience, reckoning it to be so by definitely ‘putting off’ the old man and ‘putting on’ the new.”

Cross References:
“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22).

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6).

Food for thought:
A lie may seem like a small thing. Perhaps you have gotten in the habit of covering part of the truth to make yourself look better. Maybe it’s presenting a false image of who you are. Another form of deceit is covering your sins so that no one will know what you have done. Remember, lying doesn’t affect just you but those around you as well. In this verse Paul admonishes the believers to stop lying to each other. We have been given a new nature. Lying is a choice that places us in bondage. As Scofield puts it “Positionally, in the reckoning of God, the old man is crucified, and the believer is exhorted to make this good in experience, reckoning it to be so by definitely ‘putting off’ the old man and ‘putting on’ the new.”

Perhaps as you have been reading this today and God is reminding you of people you need to go talk to. Don’t put it off. Freedom is found in walking in truth and obeying God’s voice. Start this year with a clear conscience between God and man. What does it mean to love God with all your heart? Allowing nothing between YOU and your SAVIOR!

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