By Ron v. Leerdam
Brothers & Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,
We live in a troubled world where there are so many people in trouble.
Every day 7 men and 2 women commit suicide.
Some have said “It takes a village to raise a child.”
I think it takes a community to help those who are struggling to cope and overcome their difficulties.
How do you deal with the ‘demons that would cause you to be anxious or troubled?’
The world offers many sedatives and panaceas to numb or ease the pain from the troubled thoughts that fill our minds. But the best help comes from being part of a special community, a caring community.
A community of people willing to bear each others burdens.
What Paul wrote to the Church in Colossea still applies. Perhaps even more so at this time. Marriages and all manner of relationships are in trouble, maybe more than ever. The crime rate continues to rise. Drug problems, suicide, the breakdown of relationships and all the associated problems are still on the increase and they
are expected to worsen. We have a war going on in the Ukraine, Africa and the
Middle East is a ticking time bomb. Christians and the Church are not immune to difficulties. Whilst we have been redeemed and are no longer children of the world, God has placed us in the world.
He has placed us here to make a difference for the king who we serve.
How can we make a ‘KINGDOM DIFFERENCE’?
By the way we live.
By following the Lord Jesus Christ and clothing ourselves with the same virtues as He has. “Zion said, ‘the Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.’
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; you walls are ever before me.” Isaiah 49:14-16
In Jesus we see the virtues compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
These virtues are what caused Jesus our Lord to lay down his life for us.
Through the cross, the impossible has become possible.
Through Jesus we have been reconciled to God.
Our relationship with God has been renewed.
The sin that separated us from enjoying fellowship with God has been removed.
Now God sees us as holy and loves us dearly.
This is not our doing.
It is all because God is compassionate, kind, gentle and patient not treating us as our sins deserve. Since God has borne our short-comings and forgiven us our
wrongs, we are to treat others in the same way. In this way we will make a kingdom difference in this world.
We have choices to make, choices everyday.
You wake up in the morning – you are confronted with a heap of choices.
Will I get up now or not.
What day is it?
What do I want to do?
What am I going to wear?
It’s Sunday!
Some people have special clothes for Sundays and choose to dress in them.
Different clothes are for Monday-Friday and different clothes are for Saturdays.
But then, there is the weather to take into consideration.
And there is my mood – a quick mood check takes place.
Then there is the check on what others might be expecting today.
Life is pretty complicated with all the choices we have to make.
It is complicated by relationships – isn’t it.
The things that we contribute to relationships are not always helpful.
Life is not always a plain smooth sail.
It is difficult to work with some people. Some people are only fair weather friends.
Don’t get too close to people who will let you down when you need them most.
But God’s intention is that we love one another.
Let us choose to bring to the table virtues and qualities that promote the well-being of others. God is the creator of community.
That means having relationships that are alive – living – vibrant – wholesome and healthy – where people complement each other and fill the deficits in others.
Relationships are meant to be dynamic – growing in intimacy, trust, faithfulness and love and it is love that covers over a multitude of sins.
Satan loves people to be selfish, greedy, arrogant, filled with pride where disunity, disharmony and mayhem reign.
Can we make a difference and how do we do it???
How can you do this?
Clothe yourself with qualities that Paul mentions in our text; the same virtues that Jesus clothes himself with. Remind each other of the words we read today every day, and all the time WE ARE CALLED TO: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians. 3:16 & 17
We are in charge of our feelings and attitudes, we can make choices just as we can choose what clothes we wear. A lady going to her wedding day chooses what dress she is going to wear. In our relationships with others we too make choices.
There are times in a relationship when there is an absence of peace.
There are times when we make mistakes, are misunderstood, misunderstand, fail to communicate properly, get angry and generally have a bad hair day.
Let us choose to clothe ourselves with these virtues:
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
You might not feel like it at times.
That part of your wardrobe might be a bit uncomfortable, tight fitting, not in keeping with the mood your in. But if you want a marriage for life, a marriage where the relationship can be renewed again and again, those are the clothes in your wardrobe you need to put on.
In a word love:
God’s intention is that we support and love one another.
God wants us to help one another through the downs of life.
He wants us to be committed to the well-being of each other.
He wants us to grow closer together in the bond of peace –
emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
Putting on the attitude of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience: enables you to bring the essential qualities into relationships that promote the well-being and peace of all in the community.
Pray that God gives us the motivation, strength and grace to bring these virtues to bear in our relationships.
If anyone is lacking in anything, they should ask.
Ask God in faith for His is able to do immeasurably more that we can imagine.
We are weak, but He is strong!
Pray that the gives us the grace to bear with each other and forgive as the Lord forgave has forgiven is.
Perhaps you have heard that it is extremely dangerous to harm an elephant.
They have the longest memories in the world. – as well as noses.
Some people also.
Memories of success, memories of failure, memories of hurt and pain, memories of what others have done to us and we to them.
Have you ever talked to someone whose has a falling out with another?
They remember – bitter words, angry arguments, nasty phone calls.
Mostly you discover that the stories end the same way.
The memory selectively picks out the fault of the other party.
This retelling of the faults of the other becomes the basis for clothing themselves with the clothes of:
revenge, vindictiveness, hardness of heart, self righteousness, malice, anger, rage, slander and lies. Then the past shapes the future.
We all build our future on the memories of the past.
The challenge is to determine what memories we will select to shape our future.
Going into your wardrobe and selecting the clothes you are going to put on is a powerful analogy. We can clothe ourselves with revenge, vindictiveness, hardness of heart, self righteousness, malice, anger, rage, slander and lies.
OR
We can clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. We can chose to put on the garment of love.
Bearing with others and forgiving as the Lord has forgiven us.
I am not saying that these are easy choices.
It can be really difficult living with the saints / sinners here below.
Too often we are guilty of having very very long toes that are easily stepped on and skins that are so thin that hurt happens with the slightest bump.
It would seem that the older I get, my skin gets thinner but that whilst my skin bleeds so much more readily, my heart has grown with love and grace so I can more readily choose to put on the new and put off the old nature and live for Jesus who has given us His Spirit to help us everyday. When we by the grace of God are able to forgive those who have hurt us, healing takes place.
Instead of allowing the root of bitterness to grow, nurturing the plant of hardheartedness and feeding it with the memories of the past hurts, we can forgive as the Lord has forgiven us.
What does that do to our inner being?
It brings peace.
“Let the peace of Christ dwell – live in you”
May Christ rule over your life and actions. Having the same attitude as Jesus produces fruit. The peace of God that transcends all understanding.
This is a mystery yet the experience of every believer.
In following the Lord we find life in all its fullness.
Amen.
Mama by the water 
Leave a comment