It’s For Your Own Good

 

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15

I can hear those words coming from my mother’s mouth, “This is for your own good.” In the book of Colossians Paul addresses his readers by challenging them to seek the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, and not on the things of the earth. He says that because we have died with Him, meaning our former selves have died, then our lives are hidden with Christ in God. He goes on to explain how that will be for our own good though those aren’t the words he uses.

He’s pretty much saying that when we have faith in the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ we will live in the truth that our lives are new, different, able to live as God commands. The source of our spiritual growth is based in what Christ did for us and then enables us to do because He lives in us. We will appear with Him in glory when Christ returns.

Paul goes on to make a pretty frightening list of sins that he says must be put to death if we are to set our minds on things above, things that please God. Here is the list of what Paul says we are to take off, starting in verse 5; sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, which is idolatry, anger, rage, slander, malice, and filthy language from your lips.

If we really think of about all the ways people can be involved in sexual immorality, impurity, and lust (think the internet), many are not so innocent. Impurity and greed are probably even more universal if we think like God. What movies do we watch and books do we read? Then when we get to the anger, rage, slander, malice and filthy language it gets even scarier. We see and hear these things all the time in schools and work places, as well as coming out of our own mouths.

Most of us, though, clearly see that these things are evil and need to be put off. It seems to me that the harder thing for us is Paul’s list of what to put on. In many respects most of us fancy ourselves already doing these things. Are we?

Consider this list that Paul says we are to clothe ourselves with; compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love He has written this to the church, he tells them to bear with one another. That gives us a new light to look at this in, doesn’t it?

Are we showing compassion to those in our churches? Are we kind to everyone there? Do our brothers and sisters in the Lord find you and me humble or are we trying to run everything or giving advice when we aren’t called to? Are we gentle with others when something does need to be said? Are we patient, even with our own families as we get to and try to leave church together? Are we patient with our leaders and teachers?

Adopting these godly character traits requires us to exert some effort. We cannot stop the sin, taking it off, and expect that the godly characteristics will automatically fill the void. Some of these sins are so subtle that we may not even recognize them to rid ourselves of them. If we are going to put on compassion we have to see where we have not shown mercy. If we want to be humble we have to admit where we are proud.

The only way to see lasting spiritual growth and change is to rely on the help of the Holy Spirit. Ask God to take away the sin, to convict us so we will see it and what it needs to be replaced with. Then, we need to ask for opportunities to practice them.

If we paid attention I can’t imagine how many times we’ve passed up occasions to show compassion, kindness, humility, forgiveness, or love. God offers them and we think we’re too busy, too important, or too unknowledgeable to do the right thing, especially if the person requiring the attention isn’t one of our regular friends or family members. Even worse, they may be a little bit of a pain to talk to.

In Colossians 3:15 Paul sums it all up this way, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

The result of taking off and putting on will be that we grow to a point in our spiritual lives that we are peaceful with God! This is huge. No sleepless nights wondering how we’ve hurt someone or how we could have done something differently, or wondering how to hide a sin so that no one would be upset with us.

When we are consistently trying to show compassion, kindness, humility, and forgiveness, it comes across to others as showing them love. They are loved and we are peaceful and God is pleased. Win – win –win. Our thankfulness will flow out of the spiritual peace.

I talked about this subject in “Put It On” (link) last week. What I hope this article shows is how the thankfulness will leave us. Compassion and kindness to others is good for us. God blesses obedience. Thankful people are joyful people. People who forgive will be forgiven. People who love are loved.

Paul tells us that we are to do these things for the glory of God, because we will share that glory (Colossians 3:4). Things that are for God’s glory are for our own good.