Father, I am most assuredly blessed! Thank You for the blessing of my lifelong companion. Spending the day together was amazing, and I cherished it all! It makes no difference what we did or where we went; we were together, which was simply the best!
Colossians 3:15 (<<click here to read the passage)
Lord, yesterday we looked at a harmony of love, and today’s verse begins with “and,” so it continues that progression of thought. When we clothe ourselves with love, we are called to “let the peace that comes from [You] rule in our hearts.”
Now, Lord, You know that unlike many of my friends and family, I am a take-it-or-leave-it kind of guy when it comes to sports. But I do think Paul, the writer of Colossians, liked sports. According to my NLT Life Application Study Bible, the word rule is “from the language of athletics,” and it’s saying that peace, Your peace, should rule in my heart – peace is to be the umpire or the referee when I “play” with others if you will. Even I know the importance of officials in sports. They make sure the rules are followed, they settle disputes, and they do all of this while in the middle of all the action.
So Your peace, wrapped in Your love, should be the guiding force in all I do – period. By nature (as You well know!) I quite often want things my way, and it’s pretty easy to follow that train of thought, but from experience, that is not the way of love or peace. If I let this mindset carry me along, I will have some pretty blatant “personal fouls” along the way, but usually, it is subtle. I quite often will bend the rule of peace to get my own way, to get what I want. I try to get away with it, hoping nobody notices. But when I do that, my garment of love slips off, and peace is shattered.
Lord, help me to keep love securely in its proper place in my life – enshrouding my whole being. And with that in place, may peace be my rule and guide – not the world’s shallow and temporary peace, but Your peace – eternal and secure.
So many times in my life, my choices are made with split-second decisions. The good I could do is either ignored or outright shoved out of the way for selfish reasons. Sometimes, my actions are subtle; many times, no one has any idea what I have done or not done. Sometimes, my actions are blatant, and people get hurt.
Jesus, please rule in all things of my heart, even in those split-second decisions. Give me a bent to the right, a leaning to love. Help me to place others before myself. They will truly know I follow You by my love and by the peace that rules my actions.
(June 24th, 2015, Wed, 6:15 am)
June 5th, 2024, Wed, 8:10 pm
