December 29

Read Colossians 3:12-17. 

The Christmas season is a time for us to be focused on and filled with HOPE. 

At first glance, our Colossians passage might sound like a long to-do list for us. But I like to notice that these characteristic traits of…

compassion

kindness

humility

gentleness

patience

forgiveness

love

peace

…have all been demonstrated to us by Jesus Christ. Additionally, they have been graciously extended to us by God, who is the lover of our souls.  We are not being asked to do something that is foreign to us. This passage is reminder to extend to others what has already been given to us by our faithful God. 

Hope is believing that something is yet to come or is about to arrive.  As we read this Colossians passage through a lens of HOPE, we can believe and anticipate that we continually experience God’s compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, love, and peace in fresh and new ways. And this hope can lead us to recognize that it is through these encounters with the living God that we are enabled to offer these same expressions to others in our midst.  

So, in this season of HOPE, we can wait with expectant hope, and believe with great hope, that God will empower us to live out this calling which requires a generosity of heart toward our friends, our family, and our neighbors.  

Pray

God, you are the lover of my soul. Help me to notice how you generously lavish me with compassion, kindness, humility,  gentleness, patience, forgiveness, love, and peace, that I might learn how to lavishly offer this to others. Amen.

Mary Scine

Director of College Ministry,

Memorial Presbyterian UKirk College Ministry