“Love others well, and don’t hide behind a mask; love authentically. Despise evil; pursue what is good as if your life depends on it.” Romans 12:9 TV

There’s never been a better time than now to begin to genuinly love each other. We can all be courteous to other people, but to love them takes a lot more time and effort. It’s time to stop trying to be something you are not and take off the masks and learn to love your neighbor despite their religion, background, disability, gender, or even the color of their skin.

Abhor the evil that is all around you knowing that some of it is not always easily recognized. How do we decipher whether something is evil or not? Cling to what is good! Or as Eugene Peterson says in the message translation, “Run for dear life from evil, hold on for dear life to good.”

Take a minute to pray, and ask the Lord to show you where you’ve been fake or inauthentic. Confess you sin to Him and ask Him to help you take off the mask. Ask Him to help you pursue what is good and right. Once you find it, hold on to it like your life depends on it!

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

Most of us don’t even realize how much the world has sucked us into ways where selfishness and greed run rampant. Maybe this pandemic has jostled you out of its grips for a moment, or maybe you have dug in even more: 24 hour news and social media telling you what’s important and showing you how to live your life. The hard thing is, it mostly seems right, but that is the ploy of the enemy, isn’t it? Most lies don’t come right out and slap you in the face, but they are much more subtle. The first step is waking up and opening you eyes and heart to what is true. Immerse yourself in the truth, and you’ll be better equipped to see things for what they really are.

The truth is found in none other than God Himself, through reading and studying His word and through prayer and listening.

I believe God has used this pandemic to jostle a lot of people out of the lazy life they were living down a path they didn’t want to go down. He wants us to wake up from our slumber and be enlightened and ultimately transformed, so we can see things from His heavenly perspective. There’s no need for us to go on aimlessly wandering. God wants the best for us and wants to set us free from the chains of this world.

Take a minute to ask the Lord to help you see where you might’ve been sucked into the world’s ways. Spend some time confessing to Him where you went astray. Ask Him to open your eyes to the truth of who He is and who you are in Him, and show you the life He wants for you.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Romans 12:1 TM

When I grew up, the only thing I knew of an offering was when the church passed a plate around to collect money. Tithing our money is not the only form of offering though. In the Old Testament, they used to sacrifice animals as an offering to God, but what Paul is saying here is that God wants us to offer ourselves, and not animals, as “living” sacrifices.

Have you ever thought of your daily activities as an offering to God? Your work, hanging out with friends, loving your family, cooking, eating, sleeping, reading all as an offering to God?

So it’s not just your money or even ‘sacrificing’ a couple hours on Sunday; our daily lives can be an offering to God. And why not? It was Jesus, Himself, who changed the whole paradigm when He offered His very life as a sacrifice, once and for all, to atone for our sins (praise the Lord)!

Take a minute to think through what it would look like to offer different parts of you day to God. Maybe thinking through the entire day is too much, so start with your very next activity. Even if it’s simply driving to work, think about how you can offer that time to Him. This is the way we worship Him, not just by singing songs on Sunday, but by giving Him our lives.

“And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” Colossians 3:17 NLT

As Christians we follow Christ and pursue Him with our lives, yet somehow, we forget that we represent Him at all times. I confess I often forget that I represent Christ wherever I go or in whatever I say. Unfortunately, I am not alone in this flaw. I’ve spoken to many non-Christians, and one of the biggest deterrants to Chistianity that I hear, is the fact that the Christians they know live in a way that is so unattractive, that they can’t imagine anything good coming out of participating in that person’s faith. Now, before you start pointing the finger at other Christians you know, let’s take inventory of how we are representing Christ ourselves.

How do you represent Christ? At home? At work? At church? In public? What kind of impression do people have when they talk to you or hang out with you?

Spend a minute thinking about what changes you would make if you were representing Christ. Maybe you need to take some time to confess to the Lord where you have not represented Him very well. Ask the Lord to help you remember Him as you go about your day.

“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.” Colossians 3:16

To dwell in something means to live fully in it or be at home with it. If we are to continue and grow in our faith, His word must live in us. In other words, we need to make a home for the message of Christ.

So much of life is spent finding out who you are and living in that. What if we flipped that on its head and said, “spend your life finding out who God is; let Him live in you and then you will surely become what you were created for. “

When the beautiful message of Christ takes up residence in you, it becomes contagious. You can’t help but share it with everyone and encourage them to find the life you’ve found, that now lives in you.

When the Gospel of Christ inhabits you, you can’t help but sing of His goodness. You will now find yourself living a life of thankful worship. Notice that Paul, the author of this verse, never gives any preference to one type of music. It doesn’t matter how you make music. Let your heart run free as you sing of His love!

Take a minute to make room in your life for the word of Christ. Ask Him to fill you completely with His grace and love. Ask Him to give you a song to sing. Now sing it with everything you have letting every word penetrate your heart. If you are struggling, and need some help, here is a song that has helped me to worship more called “So WIll I“

“And let the peace of Christ be ruling in your hearts, as it was the purpose of God for you to be one body; and give praise to God at all times.” Colossians 3:15 BBE

Who doesn’t want peace?! You would be hard-pressed to find anyone in this life who doesn’t. Now I know many of you would point to the fanatical groups out there who kill others, as the exception my argument, but even for them, ultimately, their end goal is their version of peace; they just have a warped mindset with regard to how to achieve it. While peace can mean a lot of things to many different people, the peace this verse is talking about only comes supernaturally through Christ.

Also, notice the peace this verse is referring to is for the purpose of bringing everyone together and not dividing. We have to be careful that our quest for peace does not lead us to attacking others who seem to get in our way. I remember when I was in college I would get so mad at my roommates for making so much noise in the morning that I would yell, “Stop making so much noise! I’m trying to have a quiet time!” Somehow, in my quest for peace, even though it was backed by good intentions, I was way off track.

The peace that we truly long for, that we need more than anything else, comes from conneting to the Prince of Peace. It is no coincidence that we feel this peace the most when we are worshipping and praising Him.

Take a minute to bring to the Lord all of the obstacles that are keeping you from peace. Spend some time praising the Lord, giving Him thanks for who He is. Pray His peace into your life.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:12-14

The last couple of days, we’ve talked about clothing yourself with God’s characteristics. It is quite the wardrobe as you can see… compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and mercy; however, these will all become mere fashion fads if they are worn without the thread of love running through them all. 

When I was younger and young in my faith, I worked on implementing everyone of these attributes into my life. The problem was that they didn’t have any love behind them, at least not the selfless, no-strings-attached-that-expects-nothing-in-return kind of love. It wasn’t until a couple years later, that I realized I wan’t really loving people at all. I was merely treating people with all of these attributes, because it made me feel good and people tended to like me for it and compliment me. It was more about what I got out of it than anything else. 

One of God’s most amazing attributes, if not the most amazing, is His love, which you can see woven through all His other attributes. His justice, for instance, can seem harsh with the punishment for sin as death and yet He gave His one and only Son, so that we might live. His holiness can make Him seem unapproachable, as we ourselves could never attain sucher perfection, but God shows his love by making us holy through his Son. Look at any one of His attributes, and you will see the thread of love running through them all.

Spend a minute with the Lord asking Him to show you how you might be using these attributes for selfish gain. Make sure to take some time to listen and see what he shows you and then confess these things to Him. Ask Him to fill you with His perfect love. Pray that He will weave His love through every part of your character.

“Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” Colossians 3:13 NLT

There is so much hatred going on in the world today. People are determined to make others pay for how they have been wronged. Many of their claims are valid, but attacking your offender is not what Christ calls us to. Can you imagine if He did that? There is a good chance none of us would be left alive, and He would be more than justified in His actions.

If we are going to be Christ-like, we must learn to forgive. Unforgiveness will get under your skin and may even cause you to rage out of control. I know this seems like a tough thing to do, and it is! That is why we need supernatural intervention in our lives to forgive those who hurt us. One of the craziest things to me about my walk with Christ is how much I just try to deal with things without Him, and it never ends well when I do. You’d think I’d learn.

We have access to the same forgiveness and strength it took to Jesus to forgive us all through sacrificing His life for us. Think about that!

Spend some time with the Lord and ask Him to reveal where you might have some unforgiveness you’re holding on to. Ask Him to fill you with the strength and courage it will take to forgive. Trust Him to not only take care of you but also to deal with the person or people who wronged you.

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

If you have been reading along with my devotionals the last several days, you know what the “therefore” is referring to. If not, go back and catch yourself up.

You have been chosen by God, set apart, so why not clothe yourselves with His attributes. Put on mercy as you seek to understand others and where they are coming from. Put on Compassion as you engage with those who are struggling in this life. Put on kindness and show it not only to those you like but also to those who make your life difficult. Put on humility and never forget the chains that Jesus set you free from. Put on gentleness, not the cheesy weak style, but the outfit with quiet strength. And lastly, put on patience, the kind with the unoffendable heart.

Since you now have a whole new wardrobe, why not spend some time getting rid of all the old clothes you used to wear. If you need some help, go back and read verse 5. I know I have a hard time throwing things away in general, so it helps me to have someone else help. Go ahead and invite Jesus into the purge. Ask Him what clothes you need to get rid of.

“For you have acquired new creation life which is continually being renewed into the likeness of the One who created you; giving you the full revelation of God. In this new creation life, your nationality makes no difference, or your ethnicity, education, or economic status—they matter nothing. For it is Christ that means everything as he lives in every one of us!” Colossians 3:10-11 TPT

We, who are in Christ, have been given a new life, yet for many of us, we still walk around as if we were dead. We mope around about our struggles with sin or get overwhelmed by the circumstances around us when the reality is our sins have been forgiven, not counted against us, and although we are not promised to not have tough times, we have hope of a better life to come and the current reality of all the riches and fullness of God living in us.

Something has to change. We’ve got to wake up to the reality that we have not only been made new but also are continually being renewed into the amazing likeness of God! We need to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perserverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). We don’t have to wait until heaven; our new life starts here and now. We should live gratefully, encouraged, with peace and joy and the hope of all things being made new. We don’t need to wait until Heaven to unite with those of other nations, ethnicities, education, or economic status who are in Christ. Let Christ be the redeemer of our hearts and the uniter of us all.

Take some time to throw off everything that is hindering you now. Ask the Lord to wake up your heart and soul to the realities of His new life in you.