Colossians 4:6

Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

Personal Challenge

As followers of Christ, our speech, whether verbal or written, should always be delivered with grace toward the recipient. There is no room, no excuse, for nasty ad hominins or other derisive means of hurting the other person. This is an aspect of being a Christian that seems to have been abandoned. Lord, have Mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Sirach 7:32-36

Stretch forth your hand to the poor,
That your blessing may be complete.
Let the kindness of giving be shown
In the presence of all the living,
And do not withhold kindness from the dead.
Do not withdraw yourself from those who weep,
And mourn with those who mourn.
Do not hesitate to visit a sick man,
For by such visits you will be loved.
With all your words, remember the time you will die,
And you will never sin.

Personal Challenge

At the very beginning of Christianity, those who had been longing for their Messiah, did not recognize Him when He arrived. To use a modern term, He was too “woke” for what they were looking for. I often wonder that if Jesus were to show up today and do what He did 2,000 years ago, how many professing Christians would join the religious leaders yelling, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Jesus would have been fully aware of this book of Sirach. His sermon on the mount and other teachings proclaims these truths in Sirach. Stretch forth your hand to the poor, which includes the widow, the orphan and the alien (migrant) amongst us. Live showing the kindness of giving, not taking and hoarding like so many wealthy, including many megachurch leaders of today. Do not withhold kindness, do not withdraw from those who weep, mourn with those who mourn, visit the sick person without hesitation, speak carefully. These are things that followers of Christ strive to do with their lives. These are the “Christians” that make up the true body of Christ. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Colossians 4:2

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;

Personal Challenge

One of the things that we, the followers of Christ, are consistently encouraged to do throughout the New Testament is to pray with thanksgiving. We do not offer up prayers to change the mind and will of God but that our mind and will might be changed to conform with His. We are to always pray with a thankful heart knowing that God hears us and that His responses will always be what is best for us. Glory be to God!

Sirach 7:29-31

Fear the Lord with all your soul
And honor His priests.
Love Him who made you
And do not forsake His ministers.
Fear the Lord and honor His priests,
And give them their portion as commanded:
The firstfruits, the trespass offering,
The gift of the shoulder offering,
The sacrifice of sanctification,
And the firstfruits of the holy things.

Personal Challenge

Sirach admonishes us to give honor and support to our spiritual leaders. A true spiritual leader will follow many other precepts in the scriptures commensurate with the role that they have either been called to or pursued. Those precepts carry their own expectations for these leaders and the consequences for not living up to those expectations. It is not our responsibility to judge these leaders but let God do that in His way and time. We will be held accountable for what we do in our role. Glory be to God!

Colossians 3:23-24

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

Personal Challenge

Jesus left His glorious place in heaven to come and be one of us and live amongst us. He submitted Himself, the Son of God, to spend 9 months in the womb of His earthly mother Mary, so that He would be incarnated as one of us. He lived the life of a lowly, migrating human being to be able to fully embrace His humanity. He did this, all the while, retaining His God-ness. He was fully God and fully man. He lived a sinless life and then humbly let humankind kill Him on the cross, only to be resurrected. He did this for us, for you, for me. This is why one of the marks of a person that is truly a follower of Christ is that they do what they do for Him. They do not do their works for another person, or a religious institution, or a political party, or for any other reason but to glorify and magnify God. Keep an eye on this when people say that they are doing something for God. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Sirach 7:20-21

Do not mistreat a servant who does his work in truth
Nor a hired worker who devotes himself to you.
Let your soul love an intelligent servant;
Do not deprive him of his freedom.

Personal Challenge

One of the problems that comes from a society that becomes so focused on the accumulation of wealth is that it results in the abuse of those who do not have wealth. We are seeing this play out today in the disparity of income between the leaders of companies and the frontline workers. As the gap grows. so does the mistreatment of those who are truly responsible for generating the wealth for the elite. This is not a new problem. It has been with us since the beginning of time. The way to change it is to shift our focus from the accumulation of wealth to sharing of our wealth with those in need. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have money!

Colossians 3:12-17

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Personal Challenge

It is so frustrating that so many people claim to be Christians and yet they ignore all the teachings in the scriptures about how to live a Christlike life. It is no wonder that so many people today do not want to have anything to do with Christianity. Lord, have mercy! So, what is this passage telling us to do to be able to demonstrate to the world that we are really followers of Christ? Here is the list parsed out from this passage so that it is easy to see…

Sirach 7:1-3

Do no evil things,
And evil will never overtake you.
Stay away from wrongdoing,
And it will turn away from you.
My son, do not sow on the furrows of wrongdoing,
And you will not reap the same things sevenfold.

Personal Challenge

If you do evil things (lie, cheat, steal, etc.) often enough and long enough, then you begin to believe that it is good and acceptable. We definitely see this in our culture today. Sirach teaches that if we strive to avoid doing evil things and wrongdoing, then we will not be overrun by both their consequences and the acceptance that they are okay. A great lesson for us all. Glory be to God!