Living His Word

Colossians 3:12 ERV: God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So your new life should be like this: Show mercy to others. Be kind, humble, gentle, and patient.

We did not choose God. God chose us. The Bible says that “Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us” (Romans 5:8). We have nothing, therefore, to brag about. We did not become the people of God because of something virtuous or special about us. We were still sinners, yet God loved us and saved us through Jesus Christ.

Given this, the life we live in Christ should have certain characteristics.

First, we should be merciful. God showed us mercy and saved us while we were still sinners. It would be deeply wrong to receive God’s mercy and then treat other people unmercifully. Jesus told the story of the evil servant who received mercy from his king and then refused to give mercy to another servant. When the king heard about this, it did not go well for him (Matthew 18:21-35).

We should be kind. God showed us kindness and made us His holy people. He had every right to reject us and condemn us, but He showed us kindness instead. As a result, we should reflect the kindness of our kind God.

We should be humble. The Apostle Paul said that God "chose what the world thinks is not important—what the world hates and thinks is nothing. He chose these to destroy what the world thinks is important. God did this so that no one can stand before him and boast about anything" (1 Corinthians 1:28-29). For the Christian, pride is simply out of the question.

We should be gentle. God was gentle with us. He could have been harsh with us. He could have punished us, but He didn’t. We should, therefore, be gentle in our dealings with other people.

Finally, we should be patient. Psalm 103:8 says that "The Lord is kind and merciful. He is patient and full of love." Just as God was and is patient with us, so should we be patient with those around us. In a world full of unmerciful, unkind, proud, harsh, and impatient people, let us always reflect the loving nature of our gracious God.