Day 23 - Let the Peace of Christ Rule in Your Hearts (Col 3:14-15)

¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Colossians 3:14-15

Paul’s list from the passages we looked at yesterday doesn’t quite come to an end yet. One more of critical importance…love. Why is love such a big deal?

Love is the secret ingredient that binds everything together. It is the glue that connects all other attributes together. And it doesn’t just sloppily keep it all together, it does it in perfect harmony…perfect agreement, perfect accord.

So how do we put on love? What is love really?

I think we typically think of love as something that is tied to feelings and emotions. And if we are honest, it is conditional on us getting something in return. The divorce rate speaks for itself. People once deeply in love fall out of love. The conditions they expected weren’t met. The feelings and emotions just aren’t there or aren’t the same.

1 John 4:8 tells us God is love. His being…who He is…is love. Not that He feels love, or expresses love, or created love, but that HE IS LOVE. He is love and He loves.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

This kind of love isn’t conditional. He loved us and gave of Himself knowing that we would not reciprocate. Jesus died for all of us on the cross, not a select few. We didn’t have to clean up or prove ourselves worthy or do anything for it. It wasn’t based on any condition on our part. We just accept it.

Can we even wrap our head around unconditional love? How can we have that type of love in us that will be the glue that bonds compassion, humility, meekness, forgiveness, patience together? What would any of those things be without love? They would be conditional external actions to get some type of benefit…in how we are viewed, how we are praised, how we are seen as team players or “good” Christians perhaps. Without love, perfect harmony in these things doesn’t exist. And we can’t fake it forever. Without the foundation of love, we can’t maintain this new self.

The two greatest commands – the ones that bind all others together in perfect harmony – are to love God and love others. Earlier in Colossians, Paul said that the hearts of the church may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ. Love is the mortar connecting and securing all other commands and helping us understand the gospel.

And I think it is worth camping on this concept, because we can fake it for a while, but things won’t change without love. There will never be unity in the church without love. Our new self will slip off without being secured by love.

When our culture is so focused on self, achievement, personal accolades, how can we manage to break out of it all and be different and truly love in an unconditional way? Honestly, I find the academics of Christianity so much easier than the love. We can study and learn more and wrestle with concepts, but this changes our head and not our hearts.

I think it is why Paul spent the first two chapters and the beginning of this chapter bringing it back to Jesus. Only by truly believing God is who He says He is, that Jesus is before all, that Jesus is sufficient for all we need, and setting our mind constantly on the things above rather than the thing all around us.

I think it is why we need the third part of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, in us. Because no matter our intentions and how hard we try, we can’t do it on our own in this body. 

As Paul’s letter to the Colossians unfolds, he isn’t moving from one theological area to another. He is laying a foundation for how this new self is possible. Only through Christ as supreme and in us.

Paul tells us to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. In our heads we can’t muster up peace, but we can let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, where love lives.

Think about what causes lack of peace in your life. Not being in control of outcomes, broken relationships, not getting what we want, things not going our way, uncertainty about the future. Look at these things carefully. If we truly believed and trusted God…if He were truly Lord of our lives…these things would not cause us to be in such a state of anxiety. Our level of peace correlates to our level of faith and belief. We need to let the peace OF Christ…the peace FROM TRUSTING Christ…RULE in our hearts. Let it take charge and authority over anything else brewing in our hearts.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27

...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

We don’t want the “peace” the world has to offer…temporary, fragile, dependent on circumstances, often in pursuit of things opposed to God. The world will not give us peace. In the world we will have tribulation and trials. Jesus promises a different kind of peace, directly from Him in us.

And we are to be thankful. For God being in charge, not us. For peace that is better than anything the world has to offer. For an example of love, and the power to love given to us.