Colossians 3:12-17 | Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

When Bill Husted walked into his 40th high school reunion, he shook hands and hugged people for 20 minutes before realizing there were two high school reunions in the building that day and he was at the wrong one.

Husted, a technology writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, used that experience to illustrate one of his enduring axioms of computer troubleshooting: Check the obvious first.

Before you replace the sound card, make sure the volume control is not turned down. If the modem isn’t working, check to see if it’s connected.

“Check the obvious first” can be a good principle for spiritual troubleshooting as well. Colossians 3:12-17 lists a dozen spiritual qualities that indicate a healthy soul. Prominent among them are compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, love, and thankfulness.

Before criticizing our church or other Christian groups, we might ask the Lord to reveal our own shortcomings. Prior to ripping out the wires of relationships, we could check to see if patience and forgiveness are connected in our own heart.

It’s good to look inside our heart—to check the obvious first—even when it feels as if all our problems are caused by others. — David McCasland

I’ll check within my own heart first,
The obvious to see,
That faults I find in others
Are really faults in me. — D. DeHaan

Christlike love is patient with the faults of others.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
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