Love that Unifies
Advent Week Two, Day Six
Colossians 3:12-15

Focus: “… above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony …”

There’s a new Christmas tree in our house. It joins several others in our home, each with its own theme and character. Designing and decorating them has become, for our family, a very fun part of the Christmas tradition. One thing I’ve discovered in our tree-decorating adventures is that there is always one piece that makes a tree’s theme complete; one item that unifies the whole look. That piece is usually the topper. Whether it’s a ribbon, a star or an angel (or something completely random!), it’s that one thing that ties the visual package together.

When a person surrenders his life to follow Jesus, God places in him gifts. These gifts are the natural outflow of sustaining our walk with Jesus. We don’t work to express them; they simply show themselves in our lives as we follow Jesus. Like ornaments on a tree, God places these gifts in us to give others a glimpse of his glory and love as well as to display his offer of salvation to a lost world.

Today’s scripture passage gives us a glimpse of some of these gifts, and though the list is not exhaustive, there is a common denominator to them all… a “topper” if you will: Love. Any picture of God’s character is incomplete without love, because it is love that binds everything together in perfect harmony. (v. 14)