Holy Spirit Archives - Daily Thoughts about God

I am grieved by the tone of today’s rhetoric, as I am sure you are. There is so much toxic public conversation with accusation, shaming, vulgarity, you-name-it. It troubles me. Are we like the frog in the proverbial pot of water on the stove, with the temperature being raised so slowly that we did not jump out when there was still time before we boil? Can’t we all get back to more civil engagement with each other?

Colossians 3:12-15 As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts… And be thankful.”

How often this standard is violated in me and in our fallen world. These simple commands struck deep contrition in my heart as I thought about each characteristic.

Compassion: identifying with the distress of others to relieve their discomfort. God is described as compassionate more than 50 times in the Old Testament. The Gospel writers described Jesus as having compassion 5 times. And in the magnificent portrait of the father of the prodigal son, he was filled with compassion for his son.

Kindness: choosing to be considerate, others-focused, and generous.

Humility: The opposite is pride, which destroys as it makes a person feel more entitled, thus more demanding, more insistent on control and having the last word.

Gentleness: responding so that a person feels safe with you, essential to a relational bond.

Patience: choosing to be willing to wait for gratification or vindication.

Forbearance: choosing patient self-control, restraint, and tolerance; choosing being long-bothered without showing any ill temper. In law, it is refraining from exercising a legal right.

Forgiveness: choosing to give up the delusion that you yourself have nothing to forgive.

Love: choosing to live in 1 Corinthians 13.

Peace: choosing to commit to making peace, not war. Letting Jesus referee in your heart.

They are all about the character of God. He has shown Himself to be this to each of us. We now get to choose to respond to others out of our experience of His indwelling grace.

We all make choices every day. I choose to walk the Colossians 3 way.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Have you ever had something truly traumatic happen in your life?

Has something rocked the foundation of what you thought you understood as your life or way of life? It happened to a man named Job in the bible, and it happened to me as well.

In the spring of 2009 my mom passed away after a battle with cancer. In a single moment, years of regret, shame, and just plain confusion swept over me. I became very angry with God, very depressed, and very lost. Everything that I had built in my life started to come unraveled. One day I heard a preacher refer to reading the book of Job during a time of struggle in your life.

As I read through Job, I found myself taking Job’s side in his arguments and questions regarding God’s decisions. I felt like a fan on the side line cheering on a character in a story. That is, until I reached Chapter 38, when the full force of conviction swept over me.

Where was I when the foundation of the earth was laid? Oh. I was not there, but God was. God goes on like this for two whole chapters in Job.

“Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness? As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors.” Job 38:12-14(NLT)

I was convicted. Who was I to challenge God? Did He not create every single thing around me, including me? We have a choice in every moment of our lives. It is a choice to challenge God and turn from Him, or a choice to follow Him, the one who created everything. I may still to this day not understand why my mom had to die from cancer, yet I no longer seek a reason to understand.

Instead I have chosen to put my trust and faith in the creator of all things, my God. I have peace and rest in my soul today because I know God knows what He is doing. In Him I find a cornerstone to rest my life upon. I can choose to be angry, and go back to feeling lost and helpless; or, I can choose to find joy and peace in my Savior, my God.

God in Heaven, when I have questions, when I am angry and in pain, remind me that You are the one who set the Earth on its foundation. Remind me that somehow, miraculously, you also know my name. You are above me and yet you chose to come down to Earth to meet me. Reveal your love to me. Amen

Question: Are you struggling with pain and confusion in your life? Consider the book of Job and his response to God.

by Rev. Daniel Forster
Used by Permission

A Daily Choice – Colossians 3

FURTHER READING

Where Do Your Works Come From?

Have you ever had something truly traumatic happen in your life?

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Tag: <span>Holy Spirit</span>

A Daily Choice – Colossians 3

FURTHER READING

Where Do Your Works Come From?

Have you ever had something truly traumatic happen in your life?

FURTHER READING