VIRTUES
FOR BROTHERLINESS: Devotion for Tuesday August 2, 2016
Text:
Colossians 3:12 – 17
Memory verse: v 14
We ended last month by reading how we can
redirect our focus by mortification of sin in us and by putting off some bad
characters that are actually sin before God. In our text for today, Paul
continued to reveal what a new man in Christ should be and the things that will
promote brotherliness among Christians and how to live for God. All the virtues
that Paul encourages us to develop (to put on) are perfectly bound together by
love. As we clothe ourselves with these virtues, the last garment we are to put
on is love, which holds all of the others in place. To practice any list of
virtues without practicing love will lead to distortion, fragmentation, and
stagnation (1 Corinthians 13:3).
He also offers a strategy to help us live for
God day by day: (a) Imitate Christ’s compassionate, forgiving attitude (Colossians
3:12–13); (b) let love guide your life (Colossians 3:14); (c) let the peace of
Christ rule in your heart (Colossians 3:15); (d) always be thankful (Colossians
3:15); (e) keep God’s Word in you at all times (Colossians 3:16); (f) live as
Jesus Christ’s representative (Colossians 3:17). These are ways to live well
and for God. Love binds together all the other graces into one whole and thus
making the Christian character complete. Are these virtues evident in your
life? If not, how do you intend to inculcate them into your life so that Christ
will be seen in you?
Food
for Thought:
All the Christian graces are bound together in love. It is the source of them
all.
Prayer: Almighty God, sow in my heart the virtue of love for you and humanity which is the root for all other Christian virtues.
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