"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. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful." Colossians 3:12-15
This week's lesson is subtitled "Loving my Neighbor". If you ask a small child who her neighbor is, she'll probably tell you 'the people who live next door', she might include the family across the street, and maybe even those who live in her entire neighborhood. But rarely does it include 'the whole world' unless she's been specifically taught that idea.
As adults we recognize that "neighbor" includes anyone who is not considered family or close friend, though it includes them,too. And if we thought last week's message of loving ourselves was difficult (it is), loving our neighbor, may be just as tough. I'm not just talking about the "group" at church, the nice lady in the neighborhood who bakes delicious cookies, the hungry, the homeless, or the names on the Christmas Giving-tree. I'm also referring to the co-worker who gets on your nerves, that woman on the PTA who thinks she has all the best ideas, the guy in church who is always asking "how are we gonna pay for that?", and that kid down the street who plays his music WAY too loud. Yep, they are our neighbors, too. And Jesus commands us to, "love your neighbor as yourself".
Once again, the author approaches this by looking through the lens of spiritual gifts. Even if we don't know what our own spiritual gift is, we recognize that everyone has different gifts and uses them differently. It is this God-created diversity that we will discuss in the lesson.
Diversity can cause strife, but that is not what God intended. God created diversity for a reason. Spend time in the scripture exploring God's creation and then do your best to answer questions 1-3. Continue with all the questions, up to #10 and the summary statement. Question #9 refers to the passage quoted at the beginning of the blog. In it Paul is urging us to "clothe ourselves...", so I'm wondering, if you had to design clothing that reflected this passage, what would it look like? If you're not much into designing, what clothes would you buy or choose from your own closet? Share you thoughts in the Comment Section :) I can't wait to see what what you imagine it looks like!!
And while we are trying to understand & accept diversity and love our neighbor, don't forget that we must first love ourselves!
Your Partner in Ministry,
Shelly (honey)
"Kind words are like honey - sweet to the soul and healthy for the body." Proverbs 16:24
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