CHOSEN TO BE HOLY

Col. 3:12-14 Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony.

Hear what the Word is saying to us today. Listen and understand it. God chose you in Christ because He loves you and He chose you to be holy. Do you know for a fact today that God loves you? How do you know it? What difference does it make for you to know it? Are you a holy person? What is there about you that verifies that it is true what you think about you?

Holiness is a life lived apart from sin, a life that strives to submit to and obey the standards of God as revealed in His Word. Some of the characteristics of holy living are found in today's verses. Take another look at them. Do they describe who you are? You may not have it altogether, but you should see some of them in you. How you treat others is a good barometer on how you are doing. If you are growing into a holy heart, you will have a compassionate heart that treats people with kindness and love. Your first response to others will be that of love. You will not let anything they do or say keep you from loving them.

If you find it hard to love someone, you will flee to the Lord and ask Him to love them through you. He will change your heart into a heart of love if you will let Him. You cannot consistently pray for the good of someone without the Lord giving you a heart of love for them. You cannot become whom the Lord wants you to be, and created you to be in Him, until you do.

Love is what binds us together and love can only be found at the foot of the cross. Jesus takes away all that keeps us from loving each other and binds us together in perfect harmony. When we don't get along it's because we haven't lingered at Calvary with our problems.