A coal in my stocking

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, 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." Colossians 3:12-13. A passage that is becoming as familiar to me, and hopefully to you, as the freckles on my hands.

And do you know what I noticed recently about these virtues? They are not lived out while sitting by the fire with a good book. Nor sitting alone on the beach. Where does the rubber truly meet the road in my walk with God? In my prayer closet? Yes. But also in my workplace/church/family, with others.

None of these virtues can be lived out alone. Each one is demonstrated in my walk with others. Patience comes easy by the fire. I am very meek staring out at Lake Michigan. I can even be kind while walking the dog. It's when I encounter other people that my impatience, ego, and griping kick in. Big time. And then I say, with Isaiah, "Woe is me. For I am lost; for I am a [woman] of unclean lips!" (Isaiah 6:5)

So, while I can have peace by maintaining a certain quiet compliance to my own wishes, when I hang out with my fellow globe-dwellers (more of them every day!), I need the peace that rules in my heart because of Jesus Christ and His mercy to me. "For it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) And the virtues will be evident in my life by the things I do for others, and in the way I treat them.

How do we know about God's character? By His great deeds in history. The parting of the Red Sea, the rescue of Noah, the healings, the cross. How will God's character then be seen in me? By the same route, my deeds in history towards her and him and you. "Touch my lips, O Lord, with a coal from your altar, and make me clean." (Isaiah 6:7)