Showing Love, Part II (Colossians 1:4)

This post is an addition to Showing Love (Col. 1:4). These ideas for showing love to all the saints were provided by Laura, Megan, Olivia, Rebekah, and Matthew.

• Give someone a hug
• Send a card to someone who's sick
• Clean house for someone
• Share
• Go shopping for someone
• Work together
• Fold laundry together
• Put away someones laundry
• Take care of somebody when they are sick
• Invite someone to play at the park
• Share my bike or my skates
• Help someone who gets hurt
• Give away things that belong to me if someone else needs them
  

Showing Love (Colossians 1:4)

These suggestions for showing love to someone are the result of a brainstorm during our bible study.

• Loving correction when it is needed
• Writing letters, notes, or emails of encouragement
• Praying for them
  
• Spending time with them
• Discovering and meeting any needs they may have
• Fixing a meal for them
• Baby sitting for them
• Call them on the phone and talk
• Open up to them and share yourself with them
• Take care of your sisters
• Do yard work or other chores for them
• Be patient with them
• Visit them if they are in a nursing or assisted living home
• Visit them if they are in the hospital
• Overlook ways they may wrong you
• Show hospitality to them by inviting them into your home
• Offer your skills like mechanical, electronic, sewing, plumbing, or cooking to them
• Invite them to a meal in your home

Please feel free to add more suggestions as comments to this post.

Love for All the Saints (Colossians 1:4)

Jesus said His disciples could be recognized because they would love each other (John 13:35). This love is not an option or a fleeting emotion it is a command (John 13:34). John strongly emphasizes the importance of love for our fellow believers in his first epistle.

He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (2:9-11)

In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. (3:10)

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (3:14-15)

If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (4:20)

1 Corinthians 13 is well known as the love chapter. To some degree it has been romanticized and applied more often to the marriage relationship. The actual context of the passage is how Christians should act toward other people as they use their spiritual gifts. It is a description of how we should love the saints, our fellow Christians. This love does not come from within ourselves but is produced in us by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22). It is manifest in self sacrificing service to others whether they are deserving or not.

Your Faith and Love (Colossians 1:4)

Paul has prayed and given thanks for the Colossians ever since he heard evidence of their reconciliation with God. The evidence was their "faith in Christ Jesus" and "love for all the saints". People can only be reconciled to God through faith in Christ. How can people determine who has "faith in Christ Jesus"? "By this all will know that you are [Christ's] disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35)

Is there enough evidence in our lives for other's to thank God for us? Is our "faith in Christ Jesus" apparent? Do we clearly show "love for all the saints"?