How are we supposed to live?
ut on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” Colossians 3:12-14
The message we find in the Word of God is that as believers in Christ, we are no longer under the Law (the ten commandments), but under grace. Some have asked if this means that we can just go out and live like we want or if this is a license to sin. The answer to these questions of course is – no! Well, if we are no longer under the Law, but under grace, and if grace is not a license to sin, how do we keep it out of the ditch?
How are we supposed to live? The Apostle Paul tells us how we are supposed to live when he talks about mercy, kindness, humbleness, meekness, longsuffering and forgiveness.
But then he says that the most important thing is love, which by the way, is the bond of perfectness.
When God calls us to His grace, we are delivered from the Law that we might live by the bond of perfectness which is love. The new rule under the liberty of grace is – do no ill to your neighbour. No longer do we live under the watchful eye of the Law, but clothed with the bond of perfectness. And there is a lot of wiggle room in this bond because as Paul says – if any person has a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. If we put on charity (love), we will be too busy to pay any attention to the ten commandments as we occupy ourselves in mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering and forgiveness.
But the best part is that we are not really the ones doing all of this, it is Christ who does it all because – even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
We love Him because He first loved us.