People are not Easy to Love (no. 7)

“You are always and dearly loved by God! So robe yourself with virtues of God, since you have been divinely chosen to be holy. Be merciful as you endeavor to understand others, and be compassionate, showing kindness toward all. Be gentle and humble, unoffendable in your patience with others” (Colossians 3:12 TPT). I need to remember to image Him while I walk in His Way. These virtues that image Him need to be worn daily if I am to be one of His chosen. People are not easy to love because they often are not walking in His image. Here Paul gives us more examples of what it is like to be one of His chosen people. I should show mercy in understanding, compassion in kindness, gentleness in humility, and unoffendable in patience.

I don’t have it all figured out. I think I have a lot of things figured out. And I constantly find out that what I think I have figured out is not correct at all. So, there is a lot of room for mercy in my own understanding and in what others understand. I ask a lot more questions of people today that I sincerely want answered. I really want to know from where folks get their ideas. As someone that grew up with totally different views and whose questions were met with shallow answers, I have come to appreciate that I want to nourish an environment of questions. And in that environment of questions, I am not going to have everyone’s answer. BUT God has all those answers. And building a relationship with Him will help lead me to some answers. God isn’t going to answer every question I have just like other Christians are not going to either. I need the mercy to understand that we all have our own walk and our own questions that we are all working out this side of eternity with Him.

I am not always the nicest person I can be. And, whenever possible, I should definitely err on the side of compassion and kindness. Back before the plague, I was without compassion and kindness of folks I thought were not thinking things through. Since we all have a lot of room for mercy in our understanding, we all have a lot of room to be kind to each other as we travel this side of eternity because life is difficult enough without me adding any more difficulty. We all have enough difficulty that we add to our own lives. I don’t need anyone else to add any more difficulty. So, I need to choose kindness.

Just understanding that I don’t have all the answers is a great step toward humility. I tend to defer a lot more to prayer, study, and fellowship than what I have potentially understood. I am truly wary of folks that have it all figured out. Almost five decades into this journey and the only person I have seen that had it figured out was Jesus. And He still always spent time talking to God. God in the flesh still spent time with the other parts of God. I am humble enough to not even pretend to comprehend how all that works anymore. So, in my humility I need to take it easy on others and myself for not having it all figured out. It is okay to have questions and things I don’t understand. He will reveal everything in His time.

I need to be patient. Over forty years of being familiar with God is not a guarantee of knowing anything. Going to a Christian college is not a guarantee of knowing anything. Knowing Greek or Hebrew is not a guarantee of knowing anything. Reading a lot of books is not a guarantee of knowing anything. Reading The Bible is not a guarantee of knowing anything. He will reveal everything in His time, “And because of God’s unfailing purpose, this detailed plan will reign supreme through every period of time until the fulfillment of all the ages finally reaches its climax—when God makes all things new in all of heaven and earth through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:10 TPT). I do just need to trust Him. I need to be patient with myself and others about His timing.

What does my walk need to contain? Probably a lot more than it already does BUT a good place to begin is reflecting His image through Jesus. I should show mercy in understanding, compassion in kindness, gentleness in humility, and unoffendable in patience.

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH