Colossians 3:15-17

On Wednesday in class I noticed a bible reference on the shirt of a girl sitting in front of me. Like any good student, I quietly took out my phone and searched for the verses to see what I could find.

"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 word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Colossians 3:15-17

I'm sure the last verse of that is familiar to most of you. It is one that I have heard for most of my life. Whatever you do, do it all in the name of the Lord. Give thanks. Beautiful message right?

Well look ahead a few lines.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. We were called to peace. How great is that??

We are to work at things for the Lord, but an important part of that too is that we are to do so in peace.

Peace.

We are to be kind, be loving, be encouraging, be humble, be considerate, be joyful, be examples of Christ above all. We are called to peace. We are to let the peace Christ has given us rule in our hearts.

Rule.

It should consume us. It should be what motivates us and what pushes us in our daily lives. We are to let the peace of Christ rule in us.


Thankful. 

 We are to be thankful. Thankful for life. Thankful for our relationship with Christ. Thankful for those in our lives who have influenced us in whatever way. Be thankful.

And then in verse 16, we find the meat of this passage:

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God"

We are to let the word of our Father dwell in us.

Dwell.

It should live in us, and not only live in us, but be alive in us!

And we are to teach one another with all wisdom as we praise our Father with gratitude.

Teach.
To educate. To inform. To dedicate time from yourself and use your gifts to positively influence the lives of individuals who come into contact with you. We are to teach one another.


So, in short (yes after all my ramblings) we are to live with the peace of Christ as we allow the word of God to be alive in us. As we allow the word to dwell in us, we are to teach others with gratitude and praise for our fathers in our heart. And, above all, work at everything as if doing it for the Lord.

How beautiful is this passage!

Take the time to let this move in you as it has in me the past few days.