The keys to “doing life together”
Daily Scripture
Colossians 3:12-14
12 Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint against anyone, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other. 14 And over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
The Apostle Paul described for the Colossian Christians how they should treat each other living and gathering in community. The virtues he listed were not qualities anyone would need for living in isolation—they were about loving and living well with others. Paul knew that not only would being compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, patient, and forgiving produce a strongly bonded community. As Christians followed his perfect example, they would show Jesus to people who didn’t know him.
- Treating one another with love is essential for any unified and bonded community, and certainly for small groups. When we love one another by showing compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and more, we show others that we care about them which builds trust. Can you recall a time when someone treated you with any of the qualities in this passage? How did that affect the way you saw or related to that person? Did it shift the way(s) you treated other people?
- Paul set this as the standard for how all followers of Jesus should treat each other. He also said in Romans 3:23 that all of us fall short. What relationships in your life could use a little (or a lot) more compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love? What positive impact would living this way have in those relationships?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for being the perfect example of this loving life for us. Please forgive me when I don’t treat others with love as often as I should and help me to be more like you each day. Amen.
GPS Insights
Lauren Cook
Lauren Cook is the Entry Points Program Director at Resurrection, a self-proclaimed foodie, a bookworm, and is always planning her next trip. She has the sweetest (and sassiest) daughter, Carolina Rae, a rockstar husband, Austin, and a cutie pup named Thunder. She loves connecting with others so let her know the best place you've ever eaten, best book you've ever read, or best place you've ever been!
One of my favorite things to do is help others. That sounds kind of silly, but I really do thrive on times when I can invite others in, show up for others, and love on others as loud as I can. However, I am the absolute worst at asking for help. As an Enneagram 3, I fall into the trap of thinking that needing help means I’m weak, not strong enough to handle things. I also find myself feeling unworthy—there are so many people around me that need so much more or are facing so much more. All in all, I really like to just do things myself.
This worked for a really long time. In the words of Aundi Kolber, I white-knuckled my way through and handled things. I got a lot done.
I also missed out on a lot. I missed out on the opportunity to allow others the joy of helping. I missed out on a much lighter load. I missed out on the opportunity to build authentic community and be known and be loved in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
We were never meant to do this adventure alone. We were created to need God, to have to trust God, and we were created to need others and to have to trust others. And this can be really scary because what if we ask and someone doesn’t show up the way we need them to? What if we let someone in and they let us down? What if people hurt us or disappoint us?
They will.
Do it anyway. Because some people won’t, and God never will. And on the other side of asking is compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience and ultimately great love. On the other side is not an easier road, but someone to navigate it with you and keep you from stumbling and pick you up and dust you off when you do. On the other side is laughter, joy, shared meals, book recommendations, movie partners, walking buddies, coffee dates, an extra gift bag when you forgot to get one, hugs (if you’re a hugger, of course), honest feedback, Happy Birthday singers, and beloved friends.
Go first, be brave, and love loud. It’s so worth it and in the end, it’ll be super, super fun!
