based on the LGG Study, Set Apart, Living a life for God’s Glory / w2d5
Scripture: Colossians 3:12-17 / SOAP verse 12-13
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others.
Colossians 3:12-13
As followers of Christ we need to know who we are in God and how we are to live in and for Him. I love the way Paul address both of these issues in Colossians chapter three. For the purpose of our SOAP verses we are focusing on “forgiving others;” but if we want to truly understand not only how to forgive but the reason we must forgive others then we need to consider the whole passage and what came before it. For the in-depth answer and better understanding we should begin reading in verse one. Actually, here’s a challenge: Commit to read the passage, (Col 3:1-17), daily during the month of January and then once a week every month following. – Let it sink in and watch how God changes you and your relationships, both with Him and with others.
When God saved us He set us apart. This is made clear in Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 5:17, where he declares that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. He says the old is gone and the new is here. This transformation hasn’t only changed us on the inside – but from the inside out – so that we are now, according to 1 Peter 2:11, considered “strangers and aliens in the world”, or as other translations render it – “temporary residents and foreigners … exiles.” The question that quickly comes to mind is, “does anyone see me as different” or am I still disguised ‘as the world’?
This passage from Colossians is another from my collection of memory verses so I am very familiar with it, however – reading it fresh this morning and looking to make some observations, Holy Spirit prompted two questions:
- Who are we?
- How are we to live?
The answers to the first question are found in verse twelve: We are Holy and dearly loved chosen children of God. Paul teaches in the preceding and remaining verses, as well as many other passages, that knowing this makes us responsible to live set apart from the world. In other words, we are to live as though we know who we are and who we belong to. We are to look like, sound like, think like, love like, forgive like, and yes “feel” like we belong to God – chosen, loved, and covered with the righteousness of Christ, filled with the Spirit, and set apart from the world. We are to put off the old sinful nature with it passions and desires and instead we are to be clothed with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. We are to make allowances for each others faults and we are to forgive those who offend us. Paul makes it clear that this forgiveness isn’t simply a statement of forgiveness but a clear and forever sacrificial act of forgiveness – just like the forgiveness of Christ toward us. For, as Paul writes, “Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others.” From life altering offenses to the ‘you stepped on my toe” offenses – Jesus made provision for them all and this is what is required of us as well. It may not be easy but neither was the way of the cross that Christ took for us. Forgiving others simply isn’t optional it is a mandatory1 part of Jesus’ command to: “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”
Different than the World
In large part we live in an unforgiving society. We write people off for the littlest offenses or we seek to hurt them back or refuse to talk to them. We demand they atone for what they’ve done to offend us. We hold it against them for years to come, judging every other act and word on that one offense. To live set apart from the world requires that we live differently than this. For us to be forgiven Christ sacrificed His life. In order for us to forgive others we will need to sacrifice our grudge, or anger, our bitterness, or retribution or remembrance of the offense on the altar of Christ’s sacrifice for us.
Paul’s secret
Remember. FIrst of all remember that whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him it is sin (James 4:17). The second thing we are to remember is what Paul said in Colossians 3:16, The Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” When we understand the cost of our sins. When we know the atrocities we’ve committed, or the wrong thoughts we’ve had, the acts of unkindness, the ugly words, the lies, the hidden secrets or depravity of heart and mind ….- and when we see them as being responsible for Christ’s death on the cross – only then will we begin to understand how to to “forgive just like Christ.”
Application
Is there someone you need to forgive? Let the love of Christ guide you as you take that step toward healing and freedom.
Me From the Inside Out 