Week 16: Day 4

Intro: Hey everyone and welcome back to Orbit where we give you daily devotions on how to live a God centred life. I’m Nathan and today we’re going to jump into Colossians 3:15−17 which is all about putting Jesus at the centre of our community.

Bible: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Thoughts: I don’t know about you but often when I read the Bible, I can fall into the trap of reading it through a me centred lens where everything is about what God has to say to me for my own benefit and usefulness in my life. But every now and then we see these passages that break that perception and point to the bigger picture; this is one of those passages.

Paul writes this letter to the Colossians, who were an early community of Jesus followers, in order for them to see the beauty and importance of Jesus. He wanted Jesus to be at the centre of the way that they think, and act, and love one another. I want you to think about the Christian community that you’re a part of. Maybe it’s in your family, or your youth group, your church or a few friends from school, maybe all of them.

God has a vision for all of those groups that you’re a part of. He wants all of those groups to have Jesus at the centre, He wants your communities to be filled with people who have peaceful hearts who are overflowing with thankfulness. But how do we get there?

One of the first points is that the communities are focused on Jesus. This passage further clarifies that we are to teach and admonish each other. Admonish is quite an old-fashioned word, but it basically means to correct each other and to point to truth. The idea can seem quite scary, but we must once again be reminded of the motivation behind that. We’re all on the same team, trying to love each other and help each other see the beauty of Jesus. Especially as you grow older God may put people in your life that He wants you to admonish lovingly for their good. Now Jesus wants us to take the log out our eyes, but he also wants us to help take the specks out of each other’s eyes.

We do this through psalms and hymns and singing. Getting together and worshipping, but even throughout the week.

Prayer: Thank you so much that we get to be part of your church, Jesus I thank you that you call us brothers and sisters and that we get to be part of your team. Help us live as team mates and share the good news we have about you. Amen

Silence: There's now just a few moments of silence for you to pray, reflect on these ideas, or simply sit and be still.

Action: Think of a psalm or a song you really like, something that God is speaking through and share it with someone.

Outro: Thanks for joining me today – see you tomorrow!