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Your New Clothes (Part 1)

Going through the book of Colossians, Paul has been writing about the changes God accomplishes in us. In my last post I looked at who we are in Christ. Today we’ll see what we’ve been endued with.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Colossians 3:12 NIV

One thing that I want to point out from the start is the fact that the apostle says clothe yourselves. This is not something that we just sit back and wait for the Lord to do. I have to initiate it.

I’ve talked about this many times in the past. It happens as we pray in the spirit. These things are the characteristics of a walk in the spirit.

Compassion. This is a very important concept. The literal Greek words used for this is bowels of mercies.

That might not sound good to our modern ears. To the ancient people, the bowels spoke of the seat of our emotions. It’s a lot like we use the word, heart, today.

Many times, we don’t understand the way the word mercy is used in the Bible. In the past, I’ve talked about it in great detail. To see my series on mercy, click here.

To sum it up, mercy is God’s blessing on our obedience. However, unlike how we see things, the Lord even blesses us based upon our future obedience.

That’s where this comes into play in our ministries. I have to allow myself to be emotionally moved to see the potential in someone’s life. I need to see them through the eyes of faith – serving God at their best.

Even if they’re not where they should be right now, mercy can be a blessing and encouragement to them. It may spur them forward to a deeper walk with the Lord.

Kindness. This characteristic goes right along the same lines as compassion. If you study how this word is used in Scripture, you’ll come to the conclusion that kindness is blessing those who don’t deserve it.

Paul talked about this in the book of Romans in the context of not judging others.

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

Romans 1:32 NIV

With God, He wasn’t kind to us after we repented, but before, when we were undeserving of His grace. That’s how we need to treat others.

Of course, that’s why we need the power of God in our lives. Blessing people who we believe don’t deserve it goes against human nature.

Humility. This is another one that I’ve talked about in the past. There are many who get the wrong idea of humility. They think that it’s holy to put themselves down.

“I’m not where I should be in Christ.”

“I’m not mature enough to serve.”

Humility has nothing to do with any of this.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Philippians 2:3 NIV

True humility is not about putting yourself down. It has everything to do with how you view others. Your desire should be to lift others up.

In my next post, I’ll continue with these characteristics.

Question: How well do you see these play out in your life?

It’s All About Mercy

28 May

We are now looking at Romans, chapter 9. In my last post we saw that God chose Jacob before he was born. That was because God already knew the choices that Jacob would make.

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

Romans 9:14-16

The only conclusion we can make is that there’s no unrighteousness in God. Paul then quotes a passage from Exodus 33:19.

The words, compassion and mercy in Exodus, mean to bend and stoop in kindness to an inferior…and then…to hold them lovingly. This is used throughout the Old Testament.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him…

Psalms 103:13

Mercy, however, has a different connotation in the New Testament. We need to understand this concept.

A thorough study of mercy in the New Testament will show that mercy is God’s reward for His obedient children. I did a detailed series of posts about mercy. To see this series, click here.

This verse in Romans tells us that much of God’s grace comes to us, not because of our will, desire, or actions. Instead, it’s by God who shows mercy. It’s all about mercy. So, we have to understand mercy, to understand God.

Our will doesn’t figure into the equation. That was true in the life of Christ.

Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Mark 14:35-36

Jesus knew this truth. It’s not about our will, but God’s desire for us.

It’s the same for running.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24

You don’t get the prize just for running. All of the athletes run.

In our Christian walk, it’s all about the mercy of God. Contrary to popular thinking – mercy is not some random act that God does. It’s a part of God’s righteous law. Jesus tried to explain this to the Pharisees.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”

Matthew 23:23

God’s righteous law is based upon three things: The original Greek says that they are faith, judgment, and mercy. Faith is the basis – without it you can never please God. Judgment is God’s final decision – guilty or not guilty. But mercy is the reward for obeying God’s Word to you.

This is a part of the Christian walk that most believers don’t understand. So, I want to take a post or two in order to explain its importance

Question: What’s your view of God’s mercy?

How Can you Measure Spiritual Power?

14 Nov

We have been talking about the nature of God’s power in your life – how His Spirit produces change in us and in those around us. We also saw that in nature, power is composed of two components, voltage and current. How about spiritual power? Scripture gives us some insight into this.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7

It’s obvious from this passage that the Lord doesn’t want us operating in fear. What He desires for His people is a spirit of power. It seems that the more I meditate on this verse, the clearer I see it. I believe that this verse is telling us that the spirit of power is evidenced by two component parts – love and self-discipline.

The natural power law says that power is voltage times current. It’s a known fact that in the natural, power is always measurable. I believe that if you know the Word of God, you should be able to gauge your level of power.

The first component of power we’ll look at is voltage. In the natural realm voltage is electrical pressure. It’s the force that’s pushing the electrons through the wires in your home. How does this translate into the spiritual?

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
2 Corinthians 5:14

It’s Christ’s love in us that compels us to work for the Lord. By using the word compel, Paul means that it’s the love of Christ that puts pressure on us to minister for the Lord. This verse makes it obvious that love is the spiritual equivalent of voltage. It’s love that puts pressure on us to serve God, to reach out, and to help others.

Jesus Christ walked in more power than anyone who ever walked the earth. Do we see the evidence of this love putting pressure on His life?

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Matthew 14:14

This incident in the life of Christ happened just after the death of John the Baptist. Jesus had recently been told that Herod had beheaded John. Not only was John a colleague in ministry, he was also a family member. If you read through Matthew chapter 14, you’ll find that Jesus went to a remote place to get away from the crowds so that He could mourn the death of John in private.

When He arrived at what He thought would be a secluded spot, Jesus found that the crowds were waiting for Him. What would we do in that situation? We know what Christ did. Scripture says that He was moved, pressured by compassion to minister to the people in spite of His grief.

Question: Have you ever been pressured by the compassion of Christ to go beyond your normal boundaries?

The Spirit and the Word

Tag Archives: compassion

Your New Clothes (Part 1)

It’s All About Mercy

How Can you Measure Spiritual Power?

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