Above all, clothe
yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And
let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in
the one body. And be thankful. 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.
- Colossians 3:14-16
For most of my adult life, I’ve considered a
sandwich from home to be a sort of lunchtime defeat. If I was eating a sandwich
for lunch, it meant I didn’t have enough money to eat out, didn’t have any
decent leftovers in the fridge, or didn’t have the time or the creativity to
make something better. A sandwich at lunch was something I ate with the
enthusiasm of a child doing her homework.
So when Lindsey told me we were going to have
sandwiches for lunch this past Saturday, my face fell. But I tried to hide my
disappointment and sat down at the table to eat. After just one bite, my face
broke out in a surprised smile. “This is good,”
I said. “What’s in this?” Lindsey thought for a second and started listing off
ingredients: turkey, pepperoni, salami, and Swiss cheese, all on sourdough
bread. It was then that I realized the disconnect between the sandwiches I had
avoided eating for years and the one she’d put in front of me. When I made
sandwiches, I bought the cheapest loaf of bread, slapped two pieces of turkey
on it, and called it a day. The reason my sandwiches had been so disappointing
was because my ingredients were too.
Life can be like lunch in that regard:
sometimes we’re dissatisfied with the whole because we’re working with
unsatisfactory ingredients. We traffic in gossip and backbiting, then wonder
why we’re lonely. We tell white lies and cut corners and then we’re outraged
that we’re not respected. We cling to bad habits then despair that our lives
seem stuck in neutral.
Scripture reminds us that a life of discipleship
is not as simple as flipping a switch; it means repenting of what is sinful and
putting on what is Christlike. In Colossians 3, Paul encourages believers to
cast aside the sins which drive us and to replace them with God’s Word, with
spiritual wisdom, and with worship. It is by making these changes, by replacing
the unhealthy with the holy, that we will see our lives line up with God’s
will. God wants you to have life, and have it abundantly—what “spiritual
ingredients” are you filling your life with?
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