To Encourage You

Colossians 3:18-24 “Wives . . . Husbands . . .  Children . . .  Fathers . . . Bondservants . . . You are serving the Lord Christ.”

How wonderful would be our interpersonal relationships if we took the words of Colossians 3 above to heart.  If we call ourselves followers of Christ, our relationships within the family and in the workplace should be different from the natural way things are in this world. That’s because our motivation is far different than the world’s.  In each and every relationship that a believer finds himself or herself in, the preeminent thing that we are instructed to keep in mind is that our relationships don’t begin and end with that other person; they begin and end with our relationship to Christ.  In other words, every human relationship is first and foremost just one more opportunity to serve the Lord.  

It may be difficult to understand this, but it is exactly what God’s Word teaches.  Each of us is to see in the lives of others in our lives the person of Christ.  As we do to them, we do to Christ.  As we submit to them, we submit to Christ. As we love them, we love Christ.  As we obey those in authority over us, we obey Christ. There is absolutely no room to differentiate our relationships with others from our relationship with Christ.  That’s a sobering thought, but it’s also a wonderful truth.  

The greatest command, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves is not some far-off unattainable prospect, but something that plays out day by day, moment by moment in our very mundane interactions with others.  Do we see Christ in that other person? Do we realize that loving that other person is an act of loving Christ?  Speaking as a father, if my wife or child ask me for something, do I react as I would if Jesus asked me for that same thing.  If others in my life upset me in some way, do I realize that my reaction to that person is being made toward a son or daughter of God?  Or if the other person is not a believer, do I recognize that God’s eye is on me and He has nevertheless commanded me to serve them as if I was serving Him?  

How this truth would revolutionize marriages, families, churches, and communities if we more fully came to grips with it.  And because God has commanded these things,  we have a choice to make.  Obey – even when to do so runs counter to everything that our own mind mistakenly says is a better way, or disobey and follow our own sinful and foolish ways, although God’s ways are as high above ours as the heaven is above the earth (Isaiah 55:9).  

May God help us to heed the wisdom of the omniscient One, the all-knowing Lord of all.