A New Wardrobe | Tiani Greenwood

Colossians 3: 1 – 21NIV & MSG translationsCONTEXT:Written by Paulwriting from prison60-62 AD, approximately 25-30 years after Jesus’ ministryPaul never visited them himself but learned of their challenges through his friend Ephaphras, the church’s founder.Community grappling with these false teachings and cultural pressuresThree pressures there were facing:Gnosticism: everything in the body bad but everything spirit good, separation of the twoPressure to submit to strict Torah rules by the Jews like circumcision, dietary laws and festival ritualsPolytheism: Jesus was just another of many gods they were worshippingPaul writes to the church to makes sure Jesus was the centre of all faith and religious experience.Is Jesus at the centre of our lives or is he just an ‘add on’ to our already busy and full schedules?How do we let Jesus word have the RUN OF THE HOUSE?In our householdsIn our wider church community?What are some ill-fitting things that God might want to take off us today? What have we grown out of? What things are not serving us any more?God is calling us to clothe ourselves in:COMPASSION:How can we cultivate a compassion of the heart, one that goes beyond mere sympathy and resonates in the depths of our being, like the “pit of our stomach,” so that we can truly understand the meaning of being “broken-hearted” and “gut-wrenched” for the sake of others?KINDNESS:How can we actively cultivate a “helpful spirit” within ourselves, ensuring that our kindness is not just a passive attitude but a force for positive change in our interactions and deeds?HUMILITY:How can we cultivate and practice the quality of humility in our lives, adopting a mindset of “lowly thinking,”?GENTLENESS:Where might there be a power imbalance in my relationships? Where might God be inviting me to show gentleness or power in restraint too this week?PATIENCE:What areas of my life do I need to practice having “long fuse” rather than a “short fuse”? What might God be teaching me through developing patience?Above all these – LOVE:How can I embody the selfless, unconditional love of Christ to those around me this week?People thrive when we are seen, noticed, heard and valued.One tool to use in conjunction to these garments/values we put on: VALIDATIONValidation is the process of learning about, understanding, or expressing acceptance for another person’s emotional experience. What validation is not involves agreeing with everything someone says, nor does it mean we always believe the other person’s emotional response is warranted. Instead, it’s about demonstrating that we understand how others are feeling without trying to talk them out of their emotions or shame them for feeling that way.What hand-me-downs are we going to pass down to the next generation?