A Lifestyle of Trusting in God

Today, I want to share lessons from Colossians 3 and I trust that you will be blessed and have an increased sense of direction after this read.

Being On The Same Page

There is nothing you and I can do for God to make Him love us more or less. He demonstrated His greatest love to us, even in this: He sent His son, Jesus to die on our behalf even when we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). Today, we are saved, we have eternal life and are the righteousness of God independent of our works. Whatever we do is only a response to the love we have received from our Father.

As the righteousness of God, the Bible tells us that we are called to live by faith. Faith is not based on what we do not know, it is not based on a wishful thinking that something could happen. Our faith as God’s children is based on knowledge, the knowledge of Christ. As we grow in that knowledge, our faith evoles into a lifestyle of trusting in God.

Faith is a lifestyle of trusting in God.

We are God’s chosen people, set apart for His purpose and well beloved by God Himself. These lessons are not new rules, but a response to the great love He has shown us. When He sees us walking in His life, He sees our faith. Now, let’s learn what Colossians 3 has for us.

A Response To Love

In Romans 5:1, Paul shares with us that since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now that we have this peace, Colossians 3:15 - “Let the peace of Christ be the controlling factor in your hearts”.

The next lesson is found in:

Colossians 3:17

Whatever you do, no matter what it is, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in dependence on him, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Thankfully, the Holy Spirit did not leave us there. He showed us how to apply it in our lives. Let’s read the following scripture:

Colossians 3:23

Whatever you do, whatever your task may be, work from the soul; that is, put in your very best effort, as something done for the Lord and not for men.

The next is a lesson of forgiveness. Notice how the scripture informs us of our position before mentioning what we should do.

Colossians 3:12-13

So, as God’s own chosen people, who are holy [set apart, sanctified for His purpose] and well-beloved by God Himself, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience [which has the power to endure whatever injustice or unpleasantness comes, with good temper]; bearing graciously with one another, and willingly forgiving each other if one has a cause for complaint against another; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so should you forgive.

In the old covenant, if we do not forgive, God does not forgive us. In the new convenant, we forgive because God has forgiven us. So, if any of us are finding it difficult to forgive, the problem is not the person. Sorry to break it to you, but it is not even about you. We can only forgive to the extent of the revelation we have about how much God has forgiven us.

We can only forgive to the extent of the revelation we have about how much God has forgiven us.

The next time you find it hard to forgive, find out how much has the Lord forgiven you. When you do, it will be easier to let go and forgive. You might say, “Do you know what the person did? This is too great to forgive, I cannot allow it. The person hurt me.” Let me share something with you: Forgiving our enemies may seem unreasonable until we realise that we were once an enemy of God, and God, for Christ sake, has forgiven us.

Now, we will conclude with love.

In Colossians 3:14, the Bible teaches us to “wrap ourselves in love”. How can we wrap ourselves in love? By seeking the best for others. Love is what binds us together. All believers are equal before the Lord and the love that the Lord showed us is one that is unselfish, one that does not expect anything in return. Let us love like that. Instead of seeking for faults with our brothers and sisters in the faith especially, let us rather look for the good, celebrate their victories with them and be an anchor of hope in times of their need. Be the one who puts a smile on their face, not one who adds to their sorrow. Give life, show love. Remember, we love, because He (that is, God), first loved us.

And know that in following all these things, it is the Lord Christ whom you are actually serving.

Meditation

It is easy to say, “Wow, thank you for sharing these words” or “What is this person saying, can you break it down?”. The scripture tells us in Hebrews 8:11 concerning the new covenant:

Hebrews 8:11

And it will not be necessary for each one to teach his fellow citizen, or each one his brother saying, ‘know by experience, have knowledge of the Lord’". The scripture continues to say, “All will know me by experience and have knowledge of me from the least to the greatest.”

How do we move from head knowledge to experiential knowledge? The key is meditation. Meditation is a visit with God. If you want to witness the experiential knowledge of Christ, the word comes to life through meditation.

Meditation in the word of God is a visit with God.

“What does meditation do to us?”, you may ask. Let’s read Joshua 1:8

Joshua 1:8

This book of the law (referring to the scriptures) shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read and meditate on it day and night“ [boldface mine].

Notice it says read and meditate, not just read. Let’s find out why meditation is very important. The scripture continues to say, “so that you may be careful to do everything in accordance to all that is written in it.

I do not know whether you have caught the revelation already, but here it is: Meditation causes you to see how you can do everything in accordance to what you have read.

Let’s recall from what we shared earlier. In the new covenant, obedience to God is a response to His love. We do not obey the Lord in order to get something from Him or to prove that we deserve blessings. A thousand times no!!! That would be going back to the law, but we are no longer under the law, but under grace.

Our obedience is a response to the love that God has shown us.

Now that everything is clear, let us see what happens when we make time to meditate: “for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful“. Successful in all areas of our lives? Yes! That is the significance, but what is the interpretation from the context? It is being successful in fulfilling what you have read.

Meditation allows us to see how to bring scriptures to fruition in our lives.

I hope from today, we will not just read scriptures, or lessons from scriptures and skip the step of meditation to doing. Read and meditate, and see your life prosper in the things you have read about the Lord.

Stay blessed.

All scripture references are taken from The Amplified Bible.