“Chosen”

“Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. “ Colossians 3:12 (NIV)

Meditation;

Paul's letter to the Colossians sheds light on the holy way that he believes a Christian should live. As "elects of God," followers must " clothe themselves with mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering." It is so much easier to do evil rather than good. Pride is something that we are born with, but we must "put on" humility, learn it and practice it over time. As elects of God, all followers of the Church must be lowly and compassionate to everyone. If only it were this easy! I have been guilty of pride more times than I can count, but these times always made me feel worse and more importantly, made others feel worse. He mocks proud mockers

but shows favor to the humble and oppressed. (Proverbs 3:34 NIV). How do we give grace to the lowly and be meek when we want to be proud? By imitating the Lord. There is no greater gift from God than that of forgiveness, and there is no greater gift that we can give. The call to imitate and instructions for action are scattered throughout the Bible, with none more similar than in Ephesians 4:32, "Be kind and loving to each other. Forgive each other the same as God forgave you through Christ." We have also heard the instructions to ask for forgiveness and forgive in the Lord's Prayer: "And forgive us our debts,as we also have forgiven our debtors. (Matthew 6:12 NIV). I think that a good practice that people do not do enough is trying to "put themselves in another's shoes." To understand Paul's message in this verse, put yourself in the shoes of the lowest you can imagine. Would you still be prideful? Unforgiving? Impatient? Angry? Blessed are the meek, and longsuffering is a virtue required of all Christians, important in the time that this verse was written and today. Go forth and love one another, no matter how high or how low, remembering that there God is far above us and humbles Himself so that we can imitate Him. Prayer: Merciful God, forgive me for being prideful, judging others as beneath me when it is I that am beneath you. I have treated others disrespectfully and in doing so have treated you the same. You have shown me the path, humble and loving Lord, and it is I that chooses whether or not to walk it. I ask that you grant me the strength to walk it today and all of my days. Amen!