Colossians 3:16

NASB	NLT	VOICE
16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.	16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.	16 Let the word of Anointed One richly inhabit your lives. With all wisdom teach, counsel, and instruct one another. Sing the psalms, compose hymns and songs inspired by the Spirit, and keep on singing – sing to God form hearts full and spilling over with thankfulness.

Wisdom of God Leads to Gratitude

The abundant teachings of Jesus should reside deep within our hearts. What we learn in the Bible shouldn’t be superficial, but a deep understanding of the Scriptures. It’s a daily study that builds strength in your relationship with God. The church can help with this through its teaching and admonishment. Teaching describes sharing knowledge and understanding. Admonishing describes sharing correction and guidance. The teaching and admonishing should be led with discernment and understanding. Music and singing are key parts of spiritual expression. Psalms refers to the Old Testaments; hymns are the songs of praise written by early Christians; spiritual songs are the variety of musical of expressions. All of these show us how many ways we can express our devotion to God. We do all this teaching and worship with gratitude. It’s a deliberate choice to recognize what God has done in our lives. The heart is the center of our being, centered on emotions, will, and intellect. Gratitude should come through every part of our life.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: How have you experienced admonishment in the church? Ws it a positive or negative experience?

Teach and Correct with Love

How can we encourage each other to teach and admonish one another in wisdom? The struggle that I’ve often seen is that people want to correct and teach in non-opportune times. I recently was with some people that was sharing the Word of God at a Pride festival. I understand that some Christians believe that homosexuality is a sin, but there’s a time and a place. People have trauma when it comes to Christians and the church, especially people in the LGBTQ+ community. We need to be aware of who we’re interacting with, and how we’re doing it. We need to meet them where they are. Allow the conversation to be organic. Asking them how they arrived at their beliefs. Share how we understand the perspective. This can end with agreeing-to-disagree or end with a true change being shown. The goal, in my opinion with these discussions, is to plant the seed. We open the door to a new perspective, and we allow God to do the transformative work. When we do this together, especially with love, we grow together. We start to develop a relationship with each other. We do life together. We learn about each other. It’s all about how we process it. When we teach, we teach in love. When we admonish, admonish in love.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: A gentle correction with love is important. When was the last discussion you had where you needed correction? How did it go?

PRAY Action

Praise God for the community you have. Any community is a valid one, as long as they help you learn about yourself and progress through life the way that God wants you live.

Read Psalm 119:11

Ask God to look at your community. See if it aligns with where God wants you to be. See if God is calling you to end relationships and/or remove yourself from certain social circles.

You are a reflection of God. The Holy Spirit dwells inside of you. Allow Holy Spirit to lead you when to teach and when to admonish.

Next slice of manna: How God Speaks || Hebrews 1:1-2 || Manna for the Mind #306