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Hello , Ugly! "But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language," Colossians 3:8. NLT.
1. Ugly! Do you like ugly people? Oh, I'm not speaking of physical appearance. I'm speaking of people who do ugly things. Has someone cursed you? How about someone getting abusively angry at you? Ever been the victim of someone's rage? I feel certain you've been the recipient of backstabbing behavior. Then again, have we ever been ugly? I have to admit so. Perhaps you do too.
2. Verse 5! Here's Colossians 3:5:" Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming." As we look inwardly we see things that need changing. The Lord is coming, for certain. When? We don't know but we don't want to be on the bad side of judgment when He comes. Thus, we need to clean up our act or God's anger will fall on us!And then there are those folks caught in a miserable life of ugliness. What can we do for them? We can show compassion and do these three things: (1) Don't respond in ugliness - Jesus wants love shown to others as He loves us; (2) See them as souls whom the Father will show His anger at the judgment - we want no one to experience hell; (3) Share God's love with them - give them the gospel of Jesus Christ in the kindest way possible.3. Beautiful! Turn from ugliness to beauty. Christians are to be the image of our Lord. Here's 2 Corinthians 3:18: "And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image." He loves us all the way to eternity.Spiritual maturity is an ever-lasting work. The Lord works on us and in us - and that means we open our hearts for Him to rework our spirit. Remember Psalms 23? The first verse contains the phrase, "The Lord is my shepherd." He's our Lord only if we do as He says. Otherwise, He's not our shepherd. Tip: you change inwardly by allowing God's love to complete you.Prayer: Father. You are magnificent! Your love fills our soul and we respond. We want to do everything You want us to do and we want to stop every sinful thought. You've taught us true love and to share Your love with others. We humbly ask Your forgiveness, Father. We thank You for Jesus and giving every soul an opportunity for heaven. We belong to You, Father. We shall follow. In Your Son's blessed name, Amen and Amen!
This message is from Garland Van Dyke at Bible Points!Matthews St. church of ChristPO Box 1522, Bay City, TX 774141915 Matthews Street, Bay City, TX 77414(979) 318-2463www.matthewsstreetchurchofchrist.com facebook.com/matthewsstreetchurchofchristWant your own copy of our devotional in your inbox? biblepoints.org/bible-points(It's twice weekly and we don't bombard you with stuff!)
