Devotional Messages

DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE

Colossians 3:12-15 – As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.  Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.  And be thankful. (NRSV)

We talk about love a lot at VLM.  I would say we strive to make sure everything we do is grounded and rooted in love.  If we’re going to talk about love biblically, we must give some attention to something the gospel repeatedly connects to love – forgiveness.  Forgiveness is a vital element of all love – God’s love for us and our love for one another.  If mercy is not present in a relationship, love cannot be fully alive.

We see mercy intertwined with love when we come to the communion table.  Jesus offered up his body to be broken, in sacrificial love, and part of what comes from that is forgiveness of our sins.  We see it also in this letter to the church at Colossae, as the writer entreats us to “bear with one another” and “forgive each other,” concluding that the best way to do this is to “clothe yourselves with love.”

In our familial relationships, daily living makes it clear that forgiveness has to be part of love.  We cannot live in such close proximity to each other and expect to experience love if we are holding grudges.  But a church family is big enough that often we try to make this work.  There are enough people around that we can attempt to avoid those who have offended us and think they will not notice we are not speaking to them.  There is enough going on that is good and holy, that we sometimes think sweeping things under the carpet will make them go away.

But God’s truth is that love has to involve mercy, or it isn’t truly love.  We are called to forgive one another as God has forgiven us.  We must examine our hearts and identify the little hurts we’re holding onto and let them go.  We must admit to ourselves that there is some history worth dredging up because we will not get free of it otherwise.  The conversations that lead to mercy are sometimes painful and difficulty, but love flows beneath them and brings us through.