Colossians 3:12-17
12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothes yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
16 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.
17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
I shared the scripture with everyone in my home and informed them that we were all going to memorize it. Abigail jumped on the task and memorized it immediately- she's the only one so far. I have a few of the verses memorized but honestly I haven't applied myself as I should. The craziness of holiday gatherings is over so we plan to get with it.
As soon as I read these verses I felt like I was reading my heart. I come from a very close family. I am the middle of three sisters with no brothers and we loved it that way. I won't lie and say we NEVER disagreed but as the years have gone by we have become the best of friends. I am so thankful for them. The Lord really blessed me. And if that isn't enough, our children are also best friends. Between the three of us we have 10 kids- I have half of them. But it's amazing how the Lord fit the ten of them together so perfectly. We three sisters each had a girl in 2000. Then between 2002 & 2004 we had 4 boys. Then between 2004 & 2005 we had 2 more girls... and then there is Chase. :) He doesn't exactly fit in... the next boy is 5 years older but everyone includes him since he's the littlest and SOOO cute. ;)
As I get older and mature a little I not only realize how important and special family is but also how important PEOPLE in general are. I am a sinner- a loser. Yet, the Lord blessed me with such a wonderful family. If the Lord would treat me so great knowing that I'm a jerk, hateful, impatient, cranky, selfish, lazy, etc. then who am I to treat anyone- family, friends, strangers- any different?
So, back to the scripture... what does it mean? I like to look up words in the dictionary to help me understand more and dig deeper...
1. compassion: sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it
2. kindness: a kind deed : favor : the quality or state of being kind
3. humility: humbleness, lowliness, meekness, modesty
4. gentleness: mildness of manners or disposition
5. patience: forbearance, long-suffering, sufferance, tolerance
6. forgive: to give up resentment of or claim to requital for: to cease to feel resentment against
7. love: appreciate, cherish, prize, treasure, value
8. unity: oneness
9. peace: harmony
10. thankful: conscious of benefit receive
11. dwell: to remain for a time
12: teach: to impart the knowledge of
13. admonish: to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner
14: wisdom: good sense
This is how the Lord wants me to live. It's a big challenge and I'm sure I'll fail every day. I'm hoping, however, that with the Lord's help as we memorize these words that we will take them to heart and act them out in our lives. Not only in our home amongst the seven of us but also in our extended family, with our friends, and out in the world among strangers. This truly is the desire of my heart.
3 comments:
Nice choice, Amy. And thanks for the broken down meanings of each that you included.
That's a great idea to have a family verse! I've picked out life verses for myself for a certain year, but never done one as a family. I too appreciate the broken down definitions!
This is one of my favorite passages of scripture. It's perfect for a family scripture. :)
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