“And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.“–Colossians 3:14
A little girl stayed for dinner at the home of her first grade friend. The vegetable was buttered broccoli and the mother asked if she liked it. The child politely replied, “Oh, yes, I love it!” But when the broccoli was passed she declined to take any. The hostess said, “I thought you said you loved broccoli.” The girl replied sweetly, “Oh, yes ma’am, I do, but not enough to eat it.”
Do you love your fellow Christians in this church? “Oh, yes,” you say, “the Lord commanded us to love one another. I love the Lord’s people!” Well, then, why are you and that brother not on speaking terms? “Him? He ripped me off in a business deal. And he calls himself a Christian!” I see. Why are there hard feelings between you and that sister over there? “Her? She’s a gossip. Do you know what she said about me behind my back? The Lord knows that I’ve tried to be nice to her, but there has to be a limit on how much you do for someone like her.” Okay. Yes, we love broccoli, but not enough to eat it . We love the brethren, but not enough to work out our differences. Like Linus, we love humanity; it’s people we can’t stand! Have you ever thought about what it would have been like to have been a part of the first century church? We often glamorize it, thinking how wonderful it must have been. But remember, there was only one church per city. If you lived in Colossae and became a Christian, you were a member of the church in Colossae. In Colossae, there wasn’t a church for Jewish Baptists and another for Gentile Presbyterians and another for Scythian charismatics. If you didn’t like the church or had a falling out with someone in that church, you were stuck. You couldn’t jump in your chariot and commute to another church down the road that you liked better.(Steven Cole). Point being— we must learn to love our way through our problems.
Notice what preceded our text–“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” (Col. 3:12-13)But, says Paul, “...above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness”. Love is on the top of the list.—HDS
