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Deutsche Version | Wiki Start | Topics Collection viii
Holiness and Freedom ...
Monday, Dec 12, 2016. What does holiness mean? Does it mean that we are perfect already? No it does not. All of us have many things in our life which are far from being perfect or holy. Yet, we are called holy and we are called to be holy in the New Testament many times - by Jesus himself, and by the apostles. Let us think more about this …!
Compassionate Hearts …
The apostle Paul writes to the Colossians, that we should put on compassionate hearts. It is a fascinating image, which he uses to describe the transformation which faith brings. Read the original lines first:
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 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. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (from Colossians 3)
Faith includes our whole self, all what we are. It includes our conscious decisions. It includes so many things, yet they all can be summarized by the words “truth and love and mercy”.
Be changed …
The image which Paul uses does neither say that we cannot do anything nor does he say we could do it. We are called to put it on. It is like another nature, but one we cannot generate. But we can put it on! It is in our hearts.
We are called to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. It is him, not us. We need his rule, his kingdom. We are called to let these words dwell in us. He is the great teacher, we are all his disciples. He is God, the creator, the only one in father, son and holy spirit. When you start to get to know Christ - read about him your self in the New Testament! - you realize how fantastic he is!
This change of Christ is freedom in the first place. We can let go. We can be who we really are. We are no longer bound to the chains of illusion. We are called to truth and love, to full mercy and forgiveness. Forgiveness is another type of freedom - we are not bound by the wounds and the anger. And justice has been created completely in Christ at the cross. Here, freedom, love and truth, mercy and compassion are complete and joined together. Here, at the cross, we are made holy and free. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts