<\/p>\n
TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL PASSAGE<\/strong><\/p>\n Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.<\/span><\/p>\n Colossians 3:12\u201317<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n by Elder Chris Beltran<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Paul started verse 12 to identify who we are, “Therefore, as <\/span>God’s chosen people<\/span><\/i>, holy and dearly loved…” Believers are His chosen people, and as such, we are holy and dearly loved by Him.<\/span><\/p>\n Holy <\/span><\/i>is not a description of lifestyle but a relationship. To be holy is to be set apart; it is a mark of ownership. God assures us that we are then set apart for His service as we are His people. This depends not on our goodness but on His grace, not on our being lovable, but on His love. Paul described this as being “dearly loved” by God.<\/span><\/p>\n And as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, we are to “clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (v. 12b).<\/span><\/p>\n “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (v. 14). This is the same as Paul’s love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13. Though we have done many things for others, or we are gifted to the point of being able to discern all mysteries, speak all kinds of tongues, and give our possessions to the poor, we are nothing without love. True love for God and others add value to our virtues.<\/span><\/p>\n As we are reminded to clothe ourselves with these virtues, let us be careful and intentional to become the person the Lord wants us to be. We are to live at peace with each other as we belong to the same family, we should always have an attitude of gratitude for His great love for us, and we must let the word of God dwell in us as we are to teach and admonish each other with His wisdom. We should let God’s word dwell in us, not just the words of our favorite theologians. Let us use the wisdom that comes from above and not from the world; to possess heavenly wisdom, Proverbs reminds us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n REFLECTION<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In all the virtues mentioned by Paul, how are we faithfully following them? It is undoubtedly tough to have compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience, especially since some people are complicated and irritating. However, we are to do so with humility, not with self-superiority.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n PRAYER<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lord, I pray to have one desire, which is to honor You. Take hold of my heart. Please help me put to death all the evil desires, greed, lusts, anger, malice, and slander that are often prevalent in my life. Fill me, Lord, with Your Holy Spirit that I may reflect your compassion, kindness, gentleness, humility, patience, and forgiveness to others in gratitude for what You have done for me, in Christ’s most precious name, Amen.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL PASSAGE Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotionals","category-text-devo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jec.com.ph\/jub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jec.com.ph\/jub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jec.com.ph\/jub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jec.com.ph\/jub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jec.com.ph\/jub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jec.com.ph\/jub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jec.com.ph\/jub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jec.com.ph\/jub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jec.com.ph\/jub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
DEVOTIONAL<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n