WISE ADVICE ON HOLY LIVING

Some people just seem naturally wise.  They see clearly the basic truths of life.  Where does that come from?  Some would say it comes with time and experience, but not always.  We all know some aged people who still act like fools in their advanced years.  Some might say it comes with education, but some of the wisest people I’ve known have had little formal education.  Wisdom may accrue for many reasons in many dimensions (legal, financial, political, social, and spiritual).  One may be wise in one area and lacking in others.

The Apostle Paul speaks clearly to the area of wisdom for our spiritual life and holy living in his letter to the Colossians (3:1-17).  Just to summarize his advice verse by verse:

•        Set your hearts on things above.
•       Set your minds on things above.
•           Keep your life hidden in Christ
•         Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature.
•       Take off your old self and practices. 
•       Put on your new self in God’s image.
•     Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. 
•     Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish others.
•     In word and deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus with thanks.

 

In the previous chapter, Paul says “ . . . just as you received Christ as Lord, continue in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, overflowing with thankfulness (2:6&7) . . . for in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form and you have been given fullness in Christ.

Continue in Him!  This is wise advice.  Such continuity of holy living means fixing our hearts and minds on Him.  It means letting Christ dwell in our hearts and thoughts daily.  It calls us to make it a habit of the heart to respond to God’s lavish grace in all our spoken and written words and in all our actions and deeds.

Continuing in Christ is not always easy.  The world is full of attractions and distractions. In the subtlest ways they pull us off our center in Christ.  But Christ remains the still-point of our life of holiness.  It is as if we place the point of our compass in Christ while the pencil that draws the circumference of our influence for Christ.  The circle moves out wider and wider with the wisdom the Holy Spirit provides.

 

 To paraphrase Thomas Merton, the constant of life in Christ is that stillpoint where Christ resides, where the Holy Spirit comforts and guides, where the Imago Dei dwells. It is the point of wisdom and grace where we experience the fruit of Christ’s passion and redemption.  It is where love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22–3) are found.  Christ is the stillpoint of our strength in weakness, humility in suffering, joy in servanthood, and peace in tribulation.  Thanks be to God!