3 Things Christians Should Do Col.3:15-17

Let the Peace of God Rule In Your Heart

Christ desires for us to have peace in our lives. This begins with a right relationship with God. Sin separates us for God, but Christ restores that relationship.

Romans 5:1 NASB95

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Being justified means that Christ has paid the penalty for our sin. This means that the wrath that God would exact on us has been satisfied by Jesus sacrifice on the cross. God does not hold his anger towards us for our sin but accepts the payment of His Son’s sacrifice to satisfy His wrath. With this we can have peace with God.

John 14:27 NASB95

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

We do not have to live in the fear of the judgement of God if we have been saved by Jesus Christ. This brings a tremendous level of peace to the soul. I was fearful of death before I knew Christ. I knew that I would be judged according to my wicked ways and consequently ran from God. I did not want to have anything to do with God because I didn’t like Him.

When I came to know Jesus as my Savior my heart changed from hating God to loving Him. I no longer had to fear His judgement, but instead am learning to enjoy His fellowship.

Rule in your heart

To rule in our hearts means to be the umpire of our heart.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Chapter 3

Let the peace of Christ act as umpire when anger, envy, and such passions arise; and restrain them.” Let not those passions give the award, so that you should be swayed by them, but let Christ’s peace be the decider of everything.

Colossians 2:18 NASB95

Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,

We should not allow people or circumstances rob us of our peace. We should make a conscious decision to allow the peace of Christ to rule in our heart. In order for this to happen we must truly have peace in our hearts.

What I mean by this is we can act like we have peace on the outside but inside we have anger or bitterness.

Psalm 28:3 (NASB95)

Do not drag me away with the wicked And with those who work iniquity, Who speak peace with their neighbors, While evil is in their hearts.

Psalm 55:21 (NASB95)

His speech was smoother than butter, But his heart was war; His words were softer than oil, Yet they were drawn swords.

We must be honest with our self and not pretend like everything is okay. We must asses what is causing the disruption to our peace and seek the godly solution restore and rule our hearts. Most of the time that which robs us of our peace is not someone or something else but instead it is something to deal with us. It could be selfishness, impatience, pride or a myriad of different things. Once we deal with that issue then peace can be restored and rule once again in our hearts.

When peace rules in our heart we are prepared to deal with the issue or person that exposed our issue.

Peace rules in our hearts when we have right relationship with God and others. It is in this that we can be thankful.

Let the Word of Christ Richly Dwell In Your Heart.

The word of God is our instruction manual for life. We cannot function peacefully in this world with out it. I have a sticky not on my desk from Pursuing Holiness that says: God’s Word must be so strongly fixed in our minds that it becomes the dominant influence in our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. This means that we are to have an abundance of God’s word in our hearts 2 Tim. 3:16-17

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NASB95)

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

God’s word teaches, reproves, corrects and trains us in righteousness.

Teaches- God’s word teaches us what is right and wrong. It is not left up to our opinion God’s word is clear as to what is sinful and what is righteous.

Reprove- God’s word asses us as to our thoughts, attitudes and actions. It will reveal where we are. Just as we study God’s word, God’s Word studies us.

Corrects- When we find ourselves in error, God’s Word shows us how to correct our error. It is found in repentance. That means to have a change of heart.

Trains- Training begins when we apply the teaching, reproving and correcting in our lives.

The abundant dwelling of God’ s Word in our hearts leads to righteousness and equips us for every good work. The opposite is true. If we do not have the Word of God richly dwell in our hearts we will not have righteousness or be prepared for every good work. Having God’s Word richly dwell in our hearts prepares us follow Christ and live in purpose for Him.

It is the Holy Spirit in the believer that brings to life that which we take in through the study of God’s Word. When we intake God’s word, it is the guidance of the Holy Spirit that affords us opportunity to employ God’s word. If we have little intake of God’s word we will have little guidance from the Holy Spirit. Conversely if we have the word of God richly dwelling in our heart we will have an abundance of guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Do Everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus.

Paul reminds us that anything we say or do should be in the name of the Lord Jesus. This means that we are to engage in things that will bring Christ glory and refrain from those things that do not. The best way to do this is to recognize that Christ hears and sees all things. Knowing that Christ is aware of all things would you say or do what you are going to do.

Give thanks through Christ to God. A heart of gratitude should be easy for us. We are tremendously blessed. Salvation, family, friends, and living in the country of abundance. All of our needs are taken care of.