are not necessarily any more honest than the rest of the world. The things suggested for inclusion in our imaginary movie are things that the perpetrators hide behind lies. Christians would call lying a sin because in various ways it is hurtful to others. Does higher education need a makeover?
The makeover. A recent fad on reality TV. First was the makeover of the backyard, then the house, then the body. Would the made-over-one be pleased? We all have been the targets of makeovers since arriving on this earth—from what God intended to what American culture demanded.
While we await further developments in the TV world of makeovers, back to Paul. In this passage he continues to develop the gospel’s unfolding promise: the gift of a new life to the Colossians (and all believers) and the new and better behaviors that show it off. He points out that Christians ought not to lie. (Why bother lying since you already have the truth in Christ?) Your new nature in Christ has a particularly important aspect to it—you are being renewed in knowledge after the “image of [your] creator.” No lie!
Prayer: Help me be so renewed that I know the truth and tell the truth. Amen.
22 – And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
Colossians 3:11 — (11) In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!
When I started college, among the strongest walls that separated students from each other were these three:
The wall that separated collegiate “Greeks” (fraternity/sorority students) from “non-Greeks.”
The wall between the preppies and the public school graduates. When I entered college, my school had had a tradition of accepting primarily the wealthy and socially gifted applicants. My class was the first class in which the number of us public school grads equaled the number of “preppies.”
The gender wall: boys vs. girls. Some years after I graduated, my all-male alma mater accepted women! The gender wall fell and everyone was welcome to attend. (Well, maybe not welcomed by all. For some, that wall was only violated, not eliminated.)
But you are being “renewed in knowledge” (3:10). You are getting new information—a new understanding that calls for the use of new wisdom. One piece of new(ly received) knowledge is truly big: there are no cultural distinctions (Greek/Jew, Mexican, Iraqi), no physical ones (circumcised/uncircumcised, black/white), no ethnic ones (Irish/Jewish), no political/social/economic ones (slave/free, PhD/GED) that Christians ought to take seriously (cf. Gal 3:28). You may learn classifications in class, but you will also learn ways in which everyone is the same—in their chemistry, their social needs, their political aspirations. Christ loves everyone despite the “human” classifications that might be used to classify, separate, or denigrate anyone. He has eliminated the walls of division. There is no way to put barriers between you and others now that your mind has been renewed. This is not just about being tolerant of others. This is a reconstruction of your mind, a re-creation produced by God. This is a recognition that sinful humans have arbitrarily made up the idea that particular characteristics could legitimately be used to separate you from others. It was like a bad April Fool’s joke—just made up.
Who are the “they” to your “we”? From now on it has to be “we.” (It’s easier than trying to remember who exactly is a “them” and monitoring all the “us’s” to make sure they’re just like you.)
Prayer: Help me act re-created so that I will no longer notice any differences between me and others. Amen.
23 – Here Is Your New Wardrobe
Colossians 3:12–15 — (12) As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. (13) Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (14) Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (15) And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.
Wearing brand name sneakers, school colors, the number of a star athlete, or T-shirts with aggressive, in-your-face statements is common. Why do people do that? Maybe to give a hint to the world about who the wearer would like to be.
Paul has the same idea: wear the stuff that will show the world that you are a Christian: for pants, how about “compassion, kindness, humility”? For shirts, “meekness . . . patience,” forgiveness, “love . . . peace” (one for every day of the week)? Shoes: thankfulness?
These sound like they could be “values.” Colleges are keen on values. Values are the warm, fuzzy stuff about which people can feel good. One thing about values is that that few people take the time to define them, and even fewer want to check to see if their values are really lived out in concrete action. But we really haven’t much of a clue about what values are actually being embodied and passed on by the great and not-so-great colleges and universities. So if you start with some values that sound good and about which you needn’t be specific, and which no one is going to measure, you have an unbeatable combination—at least for public consumption. Like a brand name outfit.
But if you check the list in the passage for today’s meditation, you will note that each item describes the quality of relationships between persons: “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness . . . patience,” forbearance, forgiveness, “love,” and thankfulness. The good news is that you need not select and commit to any set of values. You have been embraced by a concrete person—Jesus Christ—who will be your guide as you go.
Prayer: Let me wear my finest “clothes” every day and let them shine so they are visible. Amen.
24 – Gimme That Full-Time Religion
Colossians 3:16–17 — (16) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. (17) And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
You are in a hurry, in every way: to get to class, to get a date, to finish college, to own a boat! So is everyone else. In a hurry. Your professors, classmates, everybody driving on Main St. There is so much to do. And you would like some time off, just to relax, just for yourself. The nostalgic view of a typical college prof’s office is one in which the shelves are filled with books, the desk piled high with papers cascading off onto comfy chairs occupying what little floor space is not littered with more books. It suggests that learning is a leisurely enterprise. A more recent, up-tempo view might show a full-time student, hurrying to her full-time job with a quick stop to attend to her full-time family. The old-fashioned, Hollywood vision of college may be losing ground to a newer picture of learning as a hi-tech process in which a rich array of electronic devices operate under fingertip control by the instructor who arrives hurriedly just in time to throw the master switch from a sterile office cubicle shared with some graduate students.
Just if it weren’t getting too crazy, here comes Paul exhorting (suggesting? commanding?) Christians to “teach and admonish one another.” You’ve got to be kidding! Isn’t there already too much work—getting ready for class especially—to have to think about helping other Christians improve their “wisdom”? (You may not have thought college would be a vacation, but nobody seriously promised you that added responsibility.) For Christians, college is a gift intended to keep on giving—and demanding even more! This is a call to a rigorous and mutually up-building free-for-all in the context of the Christian’s life with no holds barred. There is no limit on the toughness of the intellectual wrestling. The program Paul proposes to the intellectually
