Kingdom Building

August 2, 2019

Scripture Reading: Colossians 3:1-11

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! –Colossians 3:9-11

Not lying to one another starts with not lying to ourselves. When we can be fully honest with ourselves, comfortable in our own skin, we have the freedom to love everyone. When we measure our worth in comparison to others is when we fall into the trap of qualifying people based on our self-concept and how it measures against other people.

When we accept that Christ is the only plump line by which we need to measure ourselves and when we accept that Christ meets us with grace as he guides us toward being able to love perfectly, we are freed from a comparison-defined life.

Just this week I read or heard of people threatening the lives of people or killing them because of the color of their skin or their religion or their political viewpoint or their sexuality. In some instances, such hatred is being done in the name of Christ. Just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem, he is surely weeping over our world today.  Paul tells us in the scripture above that Christ is in all, no exceptions. When we denigrate anyone, we are denigrating Christ.

Prayer:
Help us accept each other
as Christ accepted us;
teach us as sister, brother,
each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us
and Bring us to believe:
we are ourselves accepted
and meant to love and live*. Amen

*First verse of Help Us Accept Each Other by Fred see at https://www.hopepublishing.com/find-hymns-hw/hw3521.aspx

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.