How do we live differently? How do we live as ones who “have put off the old self…and have put on the new self”? How do we live, not just better, but whole and holy different? Well, says the apostle Paul, we do those things we people of faith have come to expect: we treat others as God has treated us (Col. 3:12-14), and we let the words and way of Jesus be in our hearts and our lips (Col. 3:16).
Yet, there is one thing that seems to bind our attitudes and actions, that is most transformative for our nature and for the environments we create: “be thankful…with thankfulness in your hearts to God…giving thanks to God the Father through Jesus” (Col. 3:15, 16, 17).
It seems that when it comes to living whole and holy as men and women, wives and husbands, parents and children, employees and employers (Col. 3:18-22), that is, living differently is contingent upon our awareness and acknowlegement of grace. The word “thankful” in the Greek, is more literally translated as “grace-ful,” or one who is grateful for God’s grace.
So this week, let us be grace-ful, giving gratitude for the graces as a means of living differently. With grace-fulness in our hearts to God, we pray:
Father I thank you for ____________ (name five evidences of our Father’s grace in your life this week, whether they be people, circumstances, attitudes, revelations, presence, etc.).
Father, I thank you the grace of Jesus’ life—life given for me and life in which I live—which empowers me to live differently, in harmony with _____ (name your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, etc.). Father, where the harmony is off, let your grace abound in and through me until the “peace of Christ” is what we all know.
Father, in whatever I do, in word or deed, I do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, fully aware of your grace through Him. Amen.