Colossians 3 - In His Name

Colossians 3:15-17 - "¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let 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. ¹⁷And 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."

"¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace." - Peace is a state of harmony, or the absence of strife. As a church family, we are joined together through the blood of Jesus Christ. We are members of one body (the church) and we are called to peace. That doesn't mean that all opinions are suddenly eliminated, but it does require that we all work together, despite our differences.

"And be thankful." - This little sentence is so easy to overlook as you read through this passage, but it leaped off the page at me. Being thankful requires us to acknowledge that we are grateful, and that requires us to have a humble attitude. These three words seem easy at first glance, but they are a lot harder to act on.

When was the last time you were thankful for your family?
For your neighbors?
For your church?
For God?

^"16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom," - The word admonish means to advise seriously, or reprove mildly. Whenever you teach scripture to someone else, you should really think about it before you do. Teachers are held to a higher accountability standard by God and as such, are urged to take their teaching very seriously, with all wisdom.

Think of it this way, if I was going to tell someone about a new chocolate bar that I had eaten, I would not only have sampled the chocolate bar myself and read the nutrition information on the package, but I would have brought some of the chocolate along for that other person to sample and I would have gauged their reaction to the chocolate, based on the information I had passed along.

It is the same with scripture when we introduce it to someone. We need to read through scripture first, and read commentary that goes along with it to gain a better understanding about it. Then we need to bring that passage to someone else and gauge their reaction to it.

"and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." - Paul tells us here that IT DOES NOT MATTER what our personal preference or style of music is, as long as we are letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly and we are singing to God with thankfulness (gratitude) in our hearts.

^"17And 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." - This is the key verse in this entire chapter. Whatever we do - not just some things or most things, ALL THINGS - we need to do in the name of Jesus, while giving thanks to God.

Living our lives as Christ-followers can be very difficult at times. However, if we go about our daily lives, thanking God for everything and accomplishing our daily tasks in the name of Jesus, our mindset has shifted. That's what Paul is trying to get us to realize. All of the changes that God wants you to make in your life are not going to change unless you change your mindset first.

Live life for Him - in His name - with gratitude.

Do it. Now.