April 19 | Colossians 3:12-17
DAILY READING
Colossians 3:12-17
REFLECTION
To Be Chosen
by David Thompson
What does it mean to be chosen? There is a commercial on TV that is of a girl who is adopted and she tells the story that a man in her life selected her to be his daughter. The commercial is advertising some jewelry, but her words touched me as she felt rejected by her biological parents and now she had a person (presumably her step dad) who "chose" her to be his kin.
The first verse of today's passage states what it is to be chosen by God: "Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved..." It is an amazing feeling to know that like a step-parent who selects you to be his or hers through the adoption process there was a definite act that had to be enacted. You were chosen and as in the above passage were "holy and dearly loved." What a great feeling. And the best part is that we can be in that place without a lot of bureaucratic paperwork or money changing hands. Because of what Christ did through the cross, we are told to simply believe in Him and what He did to forgive our sins and close the gap of separation that sin causes.
Christ asks for the following, not to be saved, but as a reaction for this wonderful gift of salvation. He states in the passage: "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." Christ states in Matthew 22:38-40, " Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Lov