LED BY PEACE
Scripture Reading - Colossians 3:12-15
12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. KJV
Notice that these verses show us a series of events to obtain an end result. The end result we all desperately need is to let God’s peace guide our thoughts and decisions. However notice that God’s Peace operating effectively in our hearts is not automatic. We must do our part first of yielding to God’s Love which includes, mercy, kindness, humbleness, meekness and yes the ever popular subjects of being longsuffering, forbearing and forgiving toward others. Doing these things are the outward expression of God’s Love which keeps us perfect (or mature) before God because we are properly responding to our fellow man. Verse 12 tells us to put on these various divine attributes as God’s Children. We were elected specifically by God to display His Glorious Personality. The characteristics of overflowing mercy, consistent kindness, mental humbleness that thinks mildly of oneself, meekness that is always teachable are all personal fruits that are developed in the disciplined disciple. Whereas longsuffering, forbearance and forgiveness are all personal fruits that you give toward others for their edification and your spiritual growth. Some have tried to give the latter fruit without developing the personal characteristic of God’s Nature and it just does not work. We, as Disciples of Christ must follow the proper process laid before us in these verses. The mature Christian will spend the necessary time developing their heart with God to be in the optimal position to share the fruit of God, then that same Christian is able to operate in unconditional love (charity) to fully produce God’s Peace. If we treat people right God will always, yes always, be able to lead us with His Peace. His peace will help us make the right decisions in life simply because our motive will be right if we consciously walk in the fruit of His Spirit by the Holy Word of God. Amen!