21/03/2015 - STARDARD OF LIVING FOR CHRISTIANS

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Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Colossians 3:13

Today’s verse is about enduring each other, and it goes to show that we aren’t perfect yet. It teaches that situations that upset us are necessary to perfect our character as Christians. Undoubtedly, much of what occurs in our lives today is not avoided by the Lord so that we may be more dependent on His power. As a result, we will be prepared to face any hardships because of our faith in Christ.

In addition to enduring one another, we must also forgive each other because forgiveness takes away the “poison” instilled in our spirit by someone’s offense, which would contaminate us. Those who are unable to forgive may go as far as to pay someone to kill their offender or to commit such a crime themselves. Now, if this happens to a Christian, he will be in serious trouble and it may lead him to eternal perdition. Even when we are attacked, we should not overcome evil with evil, but with good (Romans 12:21).

If there are complaints among us – dissatisfaction with our fellow men -, it is because we are in the flesh. However, when we are in the Spirit, we don’t even realize we have been offended or that someone caused us harm. Because we live in the perfect presence of God, we go through life ignoring certain evils around us. Even when we see them, we wonder if it’s worth bothering with them; after all, we have God’s peace, which surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7)!

We should always remember who we were before we accepted Jesus and our sins which have been forgiven when we received Him as our Savior. He didn’t cast our iniquities at our face and neither did He receive us with discontent, expressing annoyance. Instead, the Lord came to us joyfully with a gaze that exuded contentment, making us see that we are special to Him. That’s how we have to act!

We cannot allow the devil to fulfill his desire in us because if we let this happen, we would be under his sway and as a result we would be the most unfortunate among humans. Why allow an evil ploy to rob us of happiness if we can enjoy it in our daily life with Christ or even throughout eternity with Him? If the harm someone has caused you is too serious, be sure to do the same that Jesus did to you.

This lesson is one of the best we can learn in order to irritate the enemy who, despite being the cause of all evils, pretends to be our friend so as to incite us and remind us of the harm that was done to us. The minute you get stronger in faith, upon hearing the lies told about you, you will rejoice and exult because that’s what our brethren of the past did. If things like that come your way, it’s because your reward is great.

The Lord Jesus taught that if our righteousness doesn’t exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, we shall never enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:20). By analogy, we can say that our love and our faith must exceed those of other people.

In Christ with love,

R. R. Soares