Bind Us Together

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

BIND US TOGETHER

Col 3:12-14

12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

NIV

Therefore, again refers to the previous comments of putting off the old self and its practices and putting on the new self. We have to remember this activity, whether it be in an actual physical sense, as in behavior, or in a spiritual sense in attitudes or a change of heart and mind, it is something we have to do. No one can do it for us, not even the Spirit. He can only convict us of our sin and once we understand that conviction and respond, he then can lead us into the truth of the gospel message and we respond by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. So then, when Paul says therefore, we understand. He calls these Colossians God’s chosen people, and by extension we then would be considered God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved. Here we have to take issue with those of the Calvinistic persuasion regarding this word, chosen. The Greek word is actually more directly to mean elect, by implication, favorite. However, it is also used directly as chosen, picked out, selected by God. The question of the ages, which has been debated and debated until no uniformity of consensus has ever come to be. There will, as far as we can see, forever be a chasm between the Calvinistic and the Wesleyanistic thought. Predestination or free will cannot coexist in those theological positions. We have to go back to when Paul told them God chose to reveal the mystery of Christ to the Gentiles. They and we are the Gentiles God chose to reveal the truth to about Christ. It is that sense God chose us, not as individuals which when then lead to the fact God does not choose some individuals, but he chose us Gentiles to reveal the glorious riches of the mystery, which is Christ in us the hope of glory. We, all of us who are not Jewish, but rather Gentiles, have been chosen by God to be revealed the truth about Jesus. Thus we are holy, which he has declared, and we are dearly loved. Just to ponder on the fact that God dearly loves us. That alone is almost more then we can wrap our mind around, because we are so unworthy of his love, yet we have his dear love. Because we are so dearly loved by God, and having shed our old clothes, those associated with anger we looked at before, we now must clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience. Having those qualities certainly would lead us into an attitude of forgiveness against anyone who would do anything against us. When we think about holding a grudge, or not forgiving someone, it reflects the idea of thinking more highly of ourselves then we should. It goes back to that life centered from being angry rather than being centered from love. Paul tells us all those for qualities or virtues mentioned are united in love which binds them all together in perfect unity. We do desperately need to be bound together in the love of Christ. Bind us together, Lord, bind us together in love.