Healing Rays of Righteousness

Chosen by God and Dressed for Success

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:12-14).

The apostle Paul wrote the above in his letter to the Christian church in Colossae. He sent this letter to remind them of their new identity, now being in Jesus Christ, and to encourage them not to waver in their commitment to Jesus as Lord; and to live in the world fully dressed for success wearing God’s garments of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love.

Paul’s letter is rich with timeless truths that remain just as relevant for today’s Christian church. I pray you will read and hear Paul’s entire letter as being freshly written to us in this year of 2023.

In chapter 3, verse 12, Paul addresses the Christian church as “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.”  Whether we like it or not, our identity as God’s chosen people is certain and easily identifiable as both an individual or a church. Easily identifiable because what we do flows out of who we are, and thus, who we are is revealed by what we do. Doing and being cannot be separated!

“Holy” references our character; that is, what moral and ethical standards control our attitudes and actions and shape our reputation. That is why Paul urges us to put to death, get rid of, those attitudes and behaviors that keep us from becoming holy. “Holy” also means “being set apart” and dedicated to God’s mission, our vocation, in the world.

But there is more. Paul addresses us as “holy and dearly loved” people of God. Think of the person or persons who love you the most.  How do they feel and act toward you? Think about the strength you receive from their loving you. There is nothing more important than knowing that you are loved?

And yet, Paul tells us that God’s love is greater than the love we receive from any of these persons. God’s love for us is unconditional, not dependent upon our merit.  God’s love is a constant flow of empowering grace which keeps us steady and strong in our life journey, no matter what happens.

“Therefore, ……. clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” In the preceding verses, Paul describes what devilish attitudes and actions must be taken off and gotten rid of by those who want to be God’s people.

Then Paul lists the Godly virtues that a Christian is to put on in order to be “dressed for success” in Kingdom living. In using the word “success” I am thinking of our efforts to daily live into the prayer Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Compassion – I will have a tender heart. I will deeply care about you and do my best to help you. My                                             feelings of pity for your pain and sufferings will motivate me to act in your behalf.

Kindness – I will be kind and generous. I will say and do useful things to improve your well-being.

Humility – I will speak and act with confidence, remembering who I am in relation to God and others.

Gentleness – I will speak softly and kindly, exercising self-control because I am God-controlled.

Patience – I will strive to endure unpleasant situations, unexpected hurts, and unwanted problems,                                         leaning into God’s sustaining presence.

Yes, these virtues also describe Jesus’ life and character while in our world as a human person. Jesus was able to be fully clothed with these virtues because of His complete reliance on the presence and power of His Father’s Spirit being in Him. And this same reliance is needed by us in order to be fully dressed for success in our vocation as a disciple of Jesus.

Paul concludes his clothing list with these added adornments: “Bear with each other” (affirm, value, and respect another) “and forgive one another … as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

“Put on love” – Love is the heart-felt attitude that binds together the various virtues of our character into a single whole. It also binds together the Christian church of various personalities and giftings into one perfect unity.

This unity, this oneness, is the concern and petition of Jesus in His prayer for us. “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. …. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:22-23).

The Christian church to be a grace-filled, grace-equipped, grace-celebrating people, in whom Christ dwells richly and through whom grace flows to those around us. May we sincerely invite God to help us be so. Amen!

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – January 25, 2023

www.geigler13.wordpress.com

Ray M. Geigley

Jesus Prays for Us

John records the prayer of Jesus prior to His death and resurrection in chapter 17 of his gospel account. In that prayer we hear Jesus praying for you, me, and all who will believe in him. Imagine seeing Jesus present in the room with you and hearing him pray for you. Imagine the comfort and encouragement this would have on your life.

The good news is that Jesus has prayed for us and continues to pray, interceding in our behalf to the Ever-loving, Almighty Father. That truth alone, if believed, will transform any and every threatening and fearful situation of darkness you may be experiencing or ever will.

Jesus begins his prayer by saying that he is not praying for the world. And yet, we know that Jesus came into the world because He so loved the world. For that very reason, Jesus prepares and sends out his disciples into it, with the purpose of making the world aware of God and his love and inviting the world into a love relationship with God.

Jesus’ great concern is that his disciples be faithful to their task and successful in their witness. And Jesus prays that His disciples be equipped, protected, united as one, and made holy for their special mission in this world that God so loves.

It is important to hear and understand that Jesus never prayed that His disciples should be taken out of this world. He never prayed that they be given escape from this world. Instead, He prayed that they experience victory in this world and glorify Him. (vv. 11,15,18).

Christianity, being a disciple of Jesus, was never meant to be a means of withdrawing from life in this world, but rather a means of equipping for a better life in it. Christianity, being a disciple of Jesus, does not offer us a freedom from problems, but a God-blessed way to resolve them.

Being one of his disciples, I find it encouraging to be frequently reminded of the three things Jesus prayed would be given to His disciples:

Firstly, Jesus prayed that God would protect his disciples from the evil one. (v.11,15).

The Bible describes the world, the place wherein Jesus’ disciples live, as a scary, threatening place, an alien environment. And Jesus asks his father to protect His disciples with a special protective shelter.

As a disciples of Jesus, it is immensely encouraging to know that the Almighty God stands as guard over our lives, protecting us and limiting the assaults of evil against us.

I wonder, could it be that because we try to meet life’s difficulties and threats in our own wisdom and strength, rather than remembering that our omnipotent God is present to protect us, explain our many falls, failures, and defeats in life?

Secondly, Jesus prayed for unity among His disciples, that they be united as one. (vv.11,20-23).

Probably the greatest threat from this world toward this unity that Jesus prayed for us, is its ability to breed divisiveness among people. The world naturally divides, separates, isolates, forms cliques and closed communities, because its father, the devil, is the father of divisiveness.

Wherever there are divisions, exclusiveness, and competition between Christians, the cause of Christ is harmed. For that reason, Jesus prayed that his disciples might be as fully one as He and the Father are one – “so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”  (v.21).

Yes, Jesus knows this unity, this bond of love, would be the one crucial ingredient toward evangelizing the world. And yet, sadly, there is no prayer of Jesus which has been so ignored by the Christian community as this prayer.

Thirdly, Jesus prayed that his disciples be sanctified, made holy, by the truth. (v.17-19).

Jesus sends His disciples into the world in the same manner He was sent by the Father into it. His mission will now become the disciples’ mission. And so, Jesus prays that they be consecrated (set apart, made holy) for their special sacred task.

Being the disciples of Jesus, and being sent to serve a holy God, means that we must also be holy. “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”

(1 Peter 1:15-16). And so, our gracious God, fits and cloths us for our task of witnessing to His saving mission in the world, as we place our life in His hands and submit to His will.

Jesus makes it clear that the Christian is “not of the world” (v.16), and He makes it equally true that it is within the world that the Christian is to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. We are in this world in the place of Jesus. Our mission is identified with Jesus’ mission. Our work is Jesus’ work. Our objective is Jesus’ objective. And our life is linked with Jesus’ life. For that reason, Jesus prays for us.

Thank you, Jesus!

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            “Healing Rays of Righteousness” – January 18, 2023

www.geigler13.wordpress.com

Ray M. Geigley

Jesus, the Light of Life

Today is Epiphany, which occurs on the church calendar annually on the sixth day of January. Epiphany is the designated day for the Christian community to celebrate the birth of Jesus as the coming of God’s glory and light into the world; and like the morning dawn, driving away the darkness of sin, loneliness, and despair.

Epiphany should be celebrated as a glorious day of worship in which to thank and praise God for His gift of redeeming grace and glorious light to a people and a world wrapped in the darkness of sin as described by Isaiah. “See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” (Isaiah 60:2).        

Throughout the scriptures, God’s glory is likened to the light of the sun. The glory of God is beyond human comprehension. Light, brighter than the light of the sun, is as close as we can come to describing the shining glory of God’s redeeming presence.

In John’s vision of Jesus, recorded in Revelation 1:13-16, he describes the glory of Jesus – “His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.”

The analogy of light, as representative of the glory of God, links us to what the apostle John says about Jesus Christ – “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” (Jn.1:4-5).

In the same Gospel account, Jesus declares himself to be light – “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  (John 8:12).

When Isaiah invites us to walk in the light of the Lord, and the apostle Paul challenges us to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, the imagery is sharply vivid. Without the presence of God in our life, there is nothing but darkness and death. Jesus brought God’s light and life into the world and only as we open our lives to his Lordship do we experience that awesome, transforming, life-giving light.

The first creative word God spoke into being was, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”  Being the Almighty Lord, God can and did light up an entire universe. But there is one little corner of His grand creation that even with all His infinite power He cannot reach and transform from darkness to light without our help. Do you know or can you guess that corner?

It is the darkness in the human heart. We must first open the door for God’s light to shine in and radiate out from our life. And Jesus says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Rev. 3:20). God will not force His way into our lives.

Many who name themselves “Christian” have only partially opened the door to God’s light and seem to think it is enough to live in the shadows, being neither exposed to the full darkness of worldly evil nor the full light of God’s glory.

Those who adopt such half-hearted faith are neither challenged in life nor satisfied with life. They have just enough “religion” to make them miserable. Biblical wisdom would warn us that such attempts to find satisfaction by living in the shadows, submitting only some of one’s life to the lordship of Jesus, is futile.

God calls us to come out of darkness, out of the shadows of strangled commitment and diminished enthusiasm, to walk in His glorious transforming light of amazing love and joy in fellowship with Him. “I am the light of the world. Whosoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12).

I am confident I speak God’s heart when I say to you, “Enter into this new year of 2023 with confident faith, believing Christ’s new world of redeeming light, hope, love, peace, joy and life has dawned upon us and is being brought to complete fulfillment as the glorious eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ.” 

Let us pray;     O star of wonder, star of night, Star with royal beauty bright,

Westward leading, still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect light. AMEN!

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – January 6, 2023

www.geigler13.wordpress.com

Ray M. Geigley