READING:
One-year plan: Colossians 1-4
Two-year plan: Amos 4-5, Revelation 10
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“And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:17) – the Apostle Paul
Under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, Paul wrote the above words to the believers in the area of Colossae. His word in this verse was essentially a summary of everything he told the believers to do in verses 12-16 – “put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another . . . Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity . . . And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. . . . Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you.” To put it simply, we believers are to live differently and distinctly from the world; we are to live for the Lord and not for men (Col 3:23).
Indeed, we are to do everything – everything – in the name of Jesus, modeling His obedience and showing His authority in our lives. That means that I’m to follow Jesus in my studies, my marriage, my finances, my hobbies, my writings, my exercise, my eating, my friendships, my spiritual disciplines, my evangelism . . . and everything else. God is in the process of conforming us to the image of His Son, and the product of God’s work is to be evident in our lives as we walk more and more like Jesus.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Yesterday, did you do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus? How about today?
DAILY PRAYER: “God, help me to point to Jesus in all my choices today.”
MONDAY’S READING:
One-year plan: 1 Thessalonians 1-5, 2 Thessalonians 1-3
Two-year plan: Amos 6-9, Revelation 11:1-14
MEMORIZATION VERSE (December 1-15)
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)