A few weeks ago, I flew to Florida for a brief two-day conference. During this season of life, I have started to realize the importance of attending things like that. I spend the majority of my time teaching, counseling, and pouring into the lives of others, but for many years, I neglected my need for others to pour into my life as well. One of the strangest realizations I had to adjust to when I became a pastor was that I no longer felt like I had a pastor, but because I want to be one of those guys who lasts in the role for a long time, I budget my time and finances to make sure I'm making investments in my growth.
I arranged to attend this conference many months ago. I booked a flight, reserved a hotel room, and ordered a rental car so I could get back and forth while I was attending the event. Everything with the flight worked out fine. I didn't have any problems with my hotel. My place at the conference was also reserved, but I did experience one unfortunate surprise. When my plane landed and I tried to pick up my rental car, there was no one to help me. No one was around. So I called the corporate office to find out what was going on. They looked into the matter and discovered that the local branch closed early for the day because they didn't have anyone to work for them. Effectively, what they explained to me was that I was stuck at the airport without transportation.
In that moment, I was most certainly annoyed, but I thought to myself, "You have two choices right now. You can either get angry and ruin this leg of your trip, or you can laugh about this, treat it like an unexpected adventure, and try to figure out a new transportation solution." I chose the latter option, and visited the counters of the other car rental companies to see what they had available. Unfortunately, they were booked solid and didn't have a car for me to rent.
Then I sat down on a bench, prayed, thought about my options, and I remembered hearing about a company that allows you to rent cars from private owners. I installed their app on my phone and started looking for options. The only option I could find cost twice as much as what I was prepared to pay for my original rental, but at least it was available, so I booked it and within 90 minutes, the car was dropped off at the airport for me to use for the rest of my trip. Crisis averted.
Every day we live, we will experience moments that test our patience, people who let us down, and situations that are outside of our control that might provoke us to anger. But as believers in Christ, we don't need to give in to the provocations of this world. The Spirit of God is transforming our thinking and He is enabling us to approach each day with a new mindset, a mindset of grace.
In Colossians 3:12-17, Paul explains what this new mindset looks like when it's being lived out.
I. Let your patience display your understanding of the gospel
“ “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” ”
One of the first things we do each day is decide what clothing to wear, then we dress ourselves in whatever we've selected. Our spiritual lives operate in a similar fashion. In a passage like this, we're being told to "put on" or clothe ourselves in such a way as to display the mind and heart of Christ in our interactions with others.
We dress in such a way as to acknowledge our understanding of our real identity. Scripture reveals who we are in Christ. The word of God explains to us that we are God's chosen children and we are holy and beloved in His eyes. When we come to a mature understanding of who we are and how God sees us, that will be reflected in our attitude and in how we carry ourselves in this world.
Frankly, I think the way we interact with others offers one of the clearest demonstrations of the depth of our understanding of what Christ has done for us. When we come to accept that we were rebellious, ignorant, self-absorbed people when He found us, saved us, and gave us new life in Him, we will begin to respond to others with the grace we were shown when we didn't deserve to be shown it.
Paul challenges the church to respond to others with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. He admonishes us to bear with one another and be eager to forgive one another because Jesus forgave us first. Naturally speaking, this isn't easy to do, but Christ inspires us to do so anyway, and over time I honestly believe He makes it easier for us to do it. The more we dwell on the forgiveness He has shown us, and the more we demonstrate it toward others, the more familiar it becomes. Gradually speaking, it becomes our new way of life.
II. Let genuine love motivate the way you see other people
“ “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” ”
Is there anyone in your life that you really struggle to forgive? Do you know people who have hurt you deeply, disappointed you regularly, betrayed you, harmed you, or abandoned you? How do you feel when those people come to mind? How much time do you spend thinking about them? How much time do you spend trying not to think about them at all?
It wouldn't surprise you to know that there are people in my life who have hurt me in small ways and big ways. At one season of life, I had to wrestle with the fact that I honestly hated some of these people. But Jesus tells us that hatred is the seed of murder (Matt. 5:21-26), and I didn't want my mind to be dominated by feelings of hatred toward anyone. So now, instead of brooding with hatred or bitterness, I simply ask the Lord to help me see others from His eyes. He loves the people that I struggle to like, so I want to love them too.
In recent years, I have also started to become more intentional to pray for God's blessings on the lives of those who have hurt me most. It's hard to hate or resent people you've been praying for. It's hard to get upset about blessings in their lives when you've been actively asking God to bless them. I must say, it's a very liberating way to live. We love because He first loved us.
The Apostle John was known for encouraging the early church to seek the best for one another and to show the world that Jesus lives in us by living in love. And in this passage, I believe the Apostle Paul was trying help the church understand that truth as well. We are being sustained and held together in Christ's love, and love binds together the attributes of the new nature that Christ is demonstrating through our redeemed lives.
III. Let the presence of Christ permeate all aspects of your life
“ “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” ”
What informs your beliefs? What are the primary sources of information that you submit your eyes and ears to on a daily basis? Only a very small group of professing believers can honestly say that their thinking is primarily fed by the word of God. Most of us, to our detriment, primarily feed our eyes and our ears with what this world is trying to feed us.
Frankly, that's why so few of us are experiencing peace to its fullest extent. But deep down, I know we want to experience lasting peace, we're just confused about where it comes from or how to get it.
Scripture reminds us to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. Our hearts are to find rest, satisfaction, and contentment in Jesus. And when we find that rest in Him, we're called to bring peace to the lives of others by using the tools at our disposal. What are those tools and how does the Lord want us to use them?
The Lord has given us His word to inform our lives, feed our souls, and counteract the lies of the evil one. He's given us His wisdom so that we can teach and admonish one another. He's given us mouths to pray and speak. He's given us music so we can sing. And He has brought specific people into our lives because He wants us to be invested in by them while also using our gifts to reinvest in them.
In this world's mindset and values, you won't find peace. You'll find war between nations and division between people. You'll find yourself engaged in arguments about matters that don't have eternal significance, and you'll be tempted to treat those matters as if they do. But in Christ we find lasting peace, and His word is sowing the seeds of truth into our hearts and minds. Let His peace permeate all aspects of your life.
IV. Live free from the desire to bring glory to your own name
“ “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” ”
One of the greatest temptations we will experience in this world is the temptation to make our own name great. Kings will go to war in order to feed their desire to be remembered as powerful. Many people throughout history have essentially sold their souls in order to obtain fame and notoriety. What about us? How interested are we in bringing attention or glory to our own name?
One of my favorite quotes was spoken many years ago by Nicolaus Zinzendorf. He is quoted as saying, "Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten." I don't know how that quote strikes your ears, but it ministers to mine. It's a reminder to me that this life isn't all about me. It's a powerful reminder of the mission Christ has entrusted to each of us. We're called to live free from the desire to bring glory to our own name. A life that is lived to the fullest is a life that brings glory to Christ. Glorifying Him is the reason we were created in the first place.
Paul tells us that whatever we say and whatever we do should be done in the name of Jesus, and we should give thanks to God the Father through Christ. In essence, we're being called to live as grateful people who possess a deep understanding that life isn't all about us.
Many people in this world struggle to understand this concept. People use one another, take advantage of one another, steal from each other, and even kill each other in the defense or promotion of their own name. But that shouldn't be the mindset of sincere believers in Christ.
If we want to live with a mindset that isn't consumed with our own glory, we need to submit our desire for personal glory over to Christ. Let's lay it down at His feet, glorify His name, welcome the presence of His Spirit in our lives, and clothe ourselves in His mindset so we'll be prepared to face each day with the grace He joyfully supplies.
© John Stange, 2022
