Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Peace, Love, and Thankfulness

Colossians 3:15 - Peace, Love, and Thankfulness

We were called to love and to peace and to thankfulness in this one body of Christ. It is about harmony in the group. Three amazing emotions that are the gifts of God:

·         Peace – a sense of well-being no matter the difficulties we face. The reason for that is the knowledge that we are in Christ – hidden and raised up. How could this one truth not give us the greatest peace at all times?

·         Love – the knowledge that God has given everything for me and to me as His son.

·         Thankfulness – I fear that too often we consider this an attitude when it ought to be a lifestyle. We talk about it a great deal, but our lives reveal the truth.

Sometimes, peace, love, and thankfulness are hard to come by even though God gives them freely. Our hearts are often troubled. Feeling loved sometimes disappears. We know that we are loved. God loves us. Family and friends love us. But still, it seems so far away. So what do we do? We ask God to change our hearts, to fill us with His love, and then we demonstrate that love to others. We ask Him to fill us with His peace, and then we live it out in the midst of life’s difficult circumstances. And then we ask God to make us truly thankful. Lord, give me an attitude of gratitude that becomes a lifestyle of love for you and others.

Notice how Paul puts it: let the peace of God…. We have to allow God’s peace to rule in our hearts. It is a choice to have peace in our hearts – financial peace, peace about our families, peace in the church. Sweet peace. His peace. Let it rule in my heart today. One commentary puts it this way: “There is no room for ill will or bitterness if thankfulness prevails” (New American Commentary, vol. 32, p. 302).

Have a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!

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