AS GOD'S CHOSEN AND HOLY PEOPLE

MONDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2022

When God chose us to become the holy people He loves, He had some important things in mind for us to make the holy living effectual. Although it is natural to first think of explaining it as someone being perfect in every way but the truth is that God has some characters in mind in regard to how it is to be construed and lived beneficially.

Reference: Colossians 3:12 Amplified Bible (AMP) "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]."

God's chosen and holy people are the new creation, created in righteousness and holiness after the image of Christ. The Spirit of God works within them to produce the transformed life. However, God wants them to be conscious of the fruit of the Spirit such as kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, as well as compassion, which denotes brotherly love and mercy. Without them, the AMP translation says that we cannot endure whatever injustice or unpleasantness that comes our way, with good temper.

Wearing a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience are the felt result of the inner working of the Holy Spirit - because we wisely decided to walk by the Spirit and yield to His governing influence as we delight in the finished work and Person of Christ. So putting on, for instance, a heart of compassion, is not something we just apply because we want to show compassion to someone momentarily, but rather, it is all about nurturing and cultivating such desire already installed within us by the Spirit of God, in order to be conformed to God's will. In another way, as a Christian, you don't just choose to wake up any day and decide that you are going to be kind to people and the desire will manifest. No! The desire to be kind is already established in you because that's who God created you to be in Christ. Moreover, He is telling you to keep fulfilling the listed desires by making them a habit. Got it?

So God is not trying to tell us to get those characters from somewhere; He is simply exhorting us through apostle Paul to activate what is already part of our Christian faith or put clearly, "treasures within." This means that in Christ, the born again Christian has them in his inwardness, and so putting them on signifies wearing them outwardly such that they become evident to all. Yes Paul is saying that we have the ability to do them because we are chosen and holy people, and will certainly prevail by them over unfavourable influences, as we wear them outwardly, under the influence and testimony of the Spirit of God.

It's like when John the Evangelist said in his Johannine epistle, "I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13 NLT). In the same manner, apostle Paul is telling us that there is such a thing as compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience in us but the assurance of experiencing their reality is embedded in activating them outwardly, which will serve to cultivate, communicate and increase an awareness of holy living, thereby making us highly effective and successful in our Christian walk. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Romans 8:1; Ephesians 4:24; Romans 13:14; Colossians 3:9-10; Galatians 5:25.

Exuberant Declaration: In my faith walk and spiritual experiences, I have developed the personified character of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. By my readiness to yield to the governing influence of the Holy Spirit, they are richly manifested in my life and world because I'm set apart and marked out for the path of righteousness and holiness. By the power of the Spirit, I function with the flashing brightness of godly living, amid the fringes of adversity and disadvantageous influences. Hallelujah!