Colossenses 3:12-15 Nvipt

For Reading and Meditation:     Ephesians 4:17-32

We must spend another day considering whether or not it is a condition of our salvation that we first forgive those who have sinned against us. We said yesterday that to believe this contradicts the teaching that we are saved by grace, through faith. What, then, is Scripture getting at when it seems to encourage us...

For Reading and Meditation:     Colossians 3:1-15

It is time now to focus more precisely on what Jesus meant when He said: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Meekness, as Jesus is using the word here, refers to an attitude of heart and mind that is entirely free from a spirit of demandingness and accepts the will of God in its entirety. I...

What cause to be thankful, what reason to be grateful have we!

Surrounded by mercies, both temporal and spiritual. If we look back, we ought to rejoice that God hath chosen us in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world; that He sent His only-begotten Son into the world, to be a propitiation for our sins; that He sent His Holy Spirit into our hearts, to convince us of sin, lead us to Jesus, and make us meet for heaven.

We have His word in our hands, His grace in our...

It seems to me that the horse and the mule picture two wrong attitudes we might have when we are seeking the Lord's guidance. The horse wants to charge ahead; the mule wants to lag behind. The horse tends to be impatient, high-spirited and impetuous. The mule on the other hand is stubborn, intractable and lazy. The psalmist says that neither animal has understanding. Both have to be controlled by bit and bridle, otherwise they will not come near to their master.

God's desire is that we...

A thankful heart adds sparkle to all of life. At the close of a dinner, one of the children said, "That was a good meal, Mother." That remark created a new sense of warmth in an already happy house.

Too often we fail to express our thanks. The Lord Jesus healed ten lepers, but only one returned to give thanks, and that one was a Samaritan (Lu. 17:17). Two lessons emerge. Gratitude is rare in a world of fallen men. And when it does appear, it often comes from the least-expected...

Colossians 3:1-15

Paul said to The Colossians what to many must have seemed surprising: "If then you were raised together with Christ." How could these Colossian Christians have been raised with Christ? Of course, it was a spiritual rising. The people really had been spiritually dead, and they were now living a new spiritual life. Everyone who truly...

Christ … loved the church and gave Himself for her, … that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. § Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.The peace of God … surpasses all understanding. § Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body.May our Lord...

The love of Christ … passes knowledge. § Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. § You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. § Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. § Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. § [Bear] with one another, and [forgive] one another,...

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother … “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” § And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.Therefore, as the elect...

There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. § I forgave you all that debt … Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will...