Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint against anyone, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other.  And over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.  The peace of Christ must control your hearts—a peace into which you were called in one body. And be thankful people.  The word of Christ must live in you richly. Teach and warn each other with all wisdom by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Whatever you do, whether in speech or action, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus and give thanks to God the Father through him.                      Colossians 3:12-17

 We have a new puppy in our house and while we think he is very cute and brings us lots of joy, he is a lot of work.  Just like a young child, the rewards are great but, he requires a lot of care and training.  I was walking him yesterday and stopped to talk to someone and when I said “sit” Jett sat.  My neighbor was very impressed since he is only 11 weeks old.  What he didn’t know is how many times we have practiced “sitting”.  We started with me telling him to sit and helping him into a sitting position.  He is on target pretty much every time when there are little or no distractions.  Just an hour or so later, with our other dogs running around in the kitchen, Jett did not sit one single time when I gave the command.  There were too many distractions.  We need much more practice!

Our faith is much the same way.  It takes work and dedication.  It takes practice to get it right!  Paul tells us in Colossians 3 just what we need to do to practice our faith each day.   He tells us to put on  compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  He calls us to be tolerant of one another and to forgive each other; to let peace fill us and to be thankful.  He even calls us to teach and warn one another when we see our friends and neighbors moving away from God.  And finally if we do anything, then we should do it in the name of Jesus.

There are so many people around us who do not know Christ, or do not know just how deeply God loves us.  And when we say and do things that do not reflect God’s love; that do not reveal what Paul writes about in Colossians, then we are not pointing them towards God and faith in Jesus Christ.  But if we are practicing our faith each and every day, the people around us will see God in us.  They will see a Savior who died for us.  And I believe, they will want this faith for themselves.

I pray you will join me in this new year as I strive to practice my faith so others will know of God’s love and Jesus’ saving grace.  In the midst of so many distractions of life, remember… practice makes perfect!