The apostle,Paul liked his lists. Listen, because you are God’s chosen people, clothe yourselves with or have a kind of character that shows:-
Seven things. But then Paul adds another, which he actually says is over all the rest.
He says, “put on love, which binds them all together in perfect harmony”.
In another part of the Bible, Paul writes a list of what love is, and what love isn’t.
Sixteen in that list. Double the previous passage! And finishes with that statement, Love never fails. Now I think, love never fails to be the most important thing.
Did you know, you can be amazing at lots of things, you could be a brilliant cook, or great mechanic. Or the best musician or even a great preacher, but actually if you don’t have love, you are nothing and what you accomplish is pointless. A Black Eyed Peas song title is “Where is the Love?”, and if you have to ask that question, there’s probably a problem!
A proverb goes like this - A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate. (P15:17)
This passage in Colossians is also about relationships. It’s about all the virtuous things in Paul’s list being bound together by one thing, which is love.
It talks about unity. It talks about peace ruling in your hearts, that’s all of us. It uses the analogy of us all being parts of a body, in other words, we are dependent on one another.
And we are called to peace.
There’s an image of community, the family community, and the community that we can have with God, this relationship with Christ. That’s why Paul writes “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”
The “message of Christ is a message that runs throughout the Bible. Christ said, all the commandments, including the laws and rules, can be summed up like this - Love God and love your neighbour. If we do that, everything else falls into place.
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