11/22/04 - Colossians 3:12-15
12: "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;
13: bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
14: But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
15: And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." (New King James Version)
Colossians was written by the apostle Paul to a church that had been misled by false teachings. The letter is rather brief for Paul, and very to the point. Almost immediately, Paul begins reitterating the most important parts of Christ's teaching. In this passage, Paul is explicitly instructing the church to be compassionate and love one another.
Perhaps if Paul were writing letters today there would be a letter to the Americans that would look very much like Colossians. In Paul's outline of the root of the Christian faith, he clearly lays out the laws that we are to follow and the laws that are no longer applicable, because of the new covenant in Christ.
Sometimes, church leadership gets bogged down in technicalities and as a result, they have trouble staying on message when it comes to Christ's true teaching. This has happened over and over again since the very beginning of the Church, and I am of the opinion that it is happening again (or still) in this country. This kind of misguided teaching does horrible damage not only to the church, but also to the community.
Case in point.... In today's scripture, we see that we are supposed to be meek and accept long suffering. Yesterday, I flipped past an evangelist on television telling his flock that they would be rewarded with material comforts if they did good deeds and lived "moral" lives. He then proceeded to define "morals" in a way that shocked and amazed me - never mentioning charity, public service, or forgiveness, and instead choosing to speak against stem cell research and gay marriage. Now, when I look at America and the urgent and undeniably "moral" issues of terrorism, poverty, religious jihad, genocide, war, prisoner abuse, and government corruption, I just can't believe that we, as a church and as a nation, have chosen to focus on the least important issues not only for us today, but also in Jesus' time and the time shortly thereafter. That is not to say these issues shouldn't be addressed, simply that the church must reassess its motives and methods in addressing them. Time and time again, we Christians have fallen down on the job and failed to spead the word of Christ when and where it is needed the most in favor of squabbling within our ranks.
We need to get back to basics. Jesus simplified things for us. Jesus left no doubt during His ministry about what was important. Even through all of the translations the Bible has gone through and all of the interpretations and bible studies that have since been published, one thing remains steadfast: The foundation of our faith is love, not law.
***** Suggested reading for additional study on this topic: Colossians 2:1-3:11, Matthew 12:9-14, Matthew 7:13-20
posted by Sweet Tea @ 8:30 AM
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