Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly
loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and
patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a
grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these
virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” –
Colossians 3:12-14 NIV
The world says that we do not have to clothe
ourselves with different characteristic attributes, such as compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, especially to our enemies. However,
the word of God urges us to clothe ourselves with these attributes all the
time, even when we are among our enemies. This means we have to forgive not
only to nice people but also to our enemies as well, due to the fact that the
word of God declares, “… forgive one
another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord
forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13)
However, the main reason for forgiving each
other is that we are supposed to love one another, for love is the very first
law of the Spirit (Romans 13:8-10). In fact, from the biblical
standard of view, love can be defined as God. This means that the one of the
best attributes that God has is love (1 John 4:7-8). Thus, for this reason, the
word of God commands,
You have heard
that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you,
love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be
children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and
the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love
those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors
doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than
others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly
Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)
Hence, let us take a look at God’s example.
Since the first man, Adam that God had created, sinned (Genesis 3)—sin has been continuing to
spread for ages that we have been separated from our heavenly Father and sin
came into the world, so that all of us became sinners, even though we did not
sin (Romans 5:12-14). Because of this, we are
supposed to be the enemies of God, but He has loved us so much that He wants to
restore us back into His kingdom. In order to do this, He sent His Son, Jesus
Christ into the world (John 1:14) to crucify Himself on the cross
for our sins (Colossians 2:13-15). Thus, we can be the
righteousness of God until the end of the age (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24) by doing His will through the
Holy Spirit, to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 7:21).
Last of all, love creates the perfect unity
with one another, just as what Colossians 3:14 has said. In fact, we are
supposed to love each other, for we are members of one another (Romans 12:4-5). This is because each one of
us are individual members of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). Therefore, we have to
know that spiritual love is for everyone; thus, for this reason, Mark 12:31 points out that loving others is
second greatest commandment from God.
Love is patient,
love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not
dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no
record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
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