3:1-2 Consider yourself accountable for your words and actions; often we excuse ourselves of poor behavior because we feel victimized or wronged. It is a cyclical, selfish and fruitless method of life. We each have freedom here, purpose to claim and fulfill. If ever we are discontented or disenchanted with life it is not life which has failed us, it is ourselves. Take responsibility for your own happiness by understanding that no one can give it to you, you cannot find it, and it does not occur by chance. True, solid, permanent happiness is created when we begin to create the circumstances of our lives. We choose our temperament. We choose our outlook. Do not succumb to lethargy, explore the earth around you passionately. Explore the earth not to find happiness but to find ways and spaces to create it.
Paul is not reprimanding us, he's encouraging us to take responsibility for our lives. Here, written out for us, is the example of an honest, productive and compassionate life. The world presents an alternative option: to consume and procure wealth, power and fame. The pursuit of these however, has no end point. Greed is an insatiable stomach.
We might incorrectly think of wealth, power and fame as a game strictly played by political leaders or celebrities but actually it is not such an exclusive club. There are people who believe they will not be happy until they have a certain thing or person on every societal level. This philosophy of life taught by Paul reveals to us that happiness cannot be obtained, only created within oneself.
You are the filter through which you see the world. If you are tainted by internal disrupt so will your external worldview be.
3:3-4 Let the slumbering you continue to sleep. Your soul has awakened. Let the you that desired and worried and lamented snooze. Allow this philosophy of compassionate life enlighten you and bring you contentment, soaring joy.
3:5-7 Say an eternal goodnight the emotions, temptations and desires which vexed and suffocated you. It might sound extreme but greed and desire seek so desperately that they will strangle you in the pursuit of an end to their misery. In the pursuit of a contentment their selfishness can never obtain.
3:8-9 Set high standards for yourself: become the embodiment of patience and understanding, truth and clarity. It is unnecessary for you to taint your action and even your speech with that that does not propel your message. Be, say, do necessary things. You are not a hapless, hopeless, helpless person. Live with intention. Speak with intention. Think with intention.
Consider your contributions... is what you are providing to a room, a conversation, a person, the world good? Necessary? True? Productive? Ensure that it is! You have the great opportunity to have an impact here. Inspire laughter, hope, opportunity, justice, growth. What you do reverberates around your community and from there, around your world. What energy are you sending forth?
3:10 As you walk and work along this journey of development of faith, remember that you are renewed. Toss old, unproductive habits until they become unfamiliar to you.
3:11 Through your faith you have adopted a higher standard of life. A life which is not confounded by intolerance, impatience, discontentment. Bathe in the light that is the opportunity to be inextricably bound to compassion, creation and life.
3:12 The elect of God are those who a recognized as humble, productive, faithful propellants of this philosophy. The elect of God can be trusted to uphold mercy, kindness, humility, modesty, perseverance, comradery, and forgiveness.
3:13 Forgiveness is a sensitive topic and it because forgiveness is largely misunderstood. Forgiveness is not a returned gift of trust. Forgiveness is the salve which allows for one to release themselves from festering sorrow and pain. Forgiveness can be a simple and as prominent as a hope for the guilty party to become better. Does that seem too kind? Ask yourself this: what more trying fate is there than to face one's own shame? Our biggest motivation for change and betterment are the eyes through which to see how our actions have harmed others. We forgive because we have purpose here and we cannot journey to fulfill it if we are bound by another person or stagnant circumstance.
Do we trust that person again? Perhaps not. Do we wish to keep company with them? Perhaps not. We were instructed by Jesus on how to handle situations where we are not respected: Matthew 10:14 And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.
In other words: Move on, unwearied. Do not be harried. As small and seemingly inconsequential as humans may seem in comparison to the whole of the infinite universe... we are here. We are worthy of our place here; we were created and place with love and intricacy. If any person does not acknowledge your worthiness of respect, do no waste your time upset or trying to convince them. The only two entities who you require to acknowledge your worthiness are yourself and God. You might, but God's never going to need reminding that you are loved and worthy of justice.
Keep Him close in order to remember that forgiving someone is not a self-demeaning act. Forgiving someone is cutting that corrupted tether between yourself in them in order that you may shake off the dust from your feet and move on. Seeking revenge or apology only strengthens those harmful bonds. As a child of God, you are meant to be free.
What does it mean: "Christ forgave you." Well, Jesus was the manifestation of God's love and when He witnesses our... less than stellar behavior, it hurts Him. He personally feels the pain we cause and therefore it is quite extraordinary that He forgives us. He forgives us for hurting Him. As humans, we know how hard that can be to do. Consider it on His scale... billions of fallible humans each taking stabs at His heart.
There are many ways we can hurt Him: by not loving others and by not loving ourselves being chief among them. He forgives us for not taking delicate, precise, care of all that matters to Him. He forgive us because this is a classroom and because through our fallibility we learn and grow.
3:14 Paul has a lot of advice but perhaps the easiest method of living life purposefully is to love. Is to have appreciation and joy for a living things and people around you. When we love a thing or person, we defend its justice. Love is a guide, employ it.
3:15 Find peace and gratitude knowing that solidly encased in deeper meaning, deeper purpose, deeper manifestations of life and creations. Marvel at your smallness: this massive, intelligent universe created and sustains you. Little you to the universe/creation/God are not so little, after all.
3:16-17 Let this philosophy dwell in you richly. Let this saturated compassion saturate you. With humility and gratitude let it remind you constantly that you are loved and led.
3:18-19 Cultivate mutually respectful relationships. Paul's language here is a bit archaic to our times but what he requests is that we love each other and devote each other to another's emotional and physical health.
3:20-21 Cultivate caring and environments for children to grow and develop. In many ways, parents impress onto their children their worldview. Ensure that it is a healthy and inquisitive, objective and compassionate one. Likewise children respect your parents as children themselves, children of life, together with you in this classroom. Your parents are experiencing advanced lessons but they are still students.
3:22-24 Work with purpose, with passion. Do not live half-hardheartedly. We reap what we sow, surely we do not wish to reap only halfhearted attempts on preserving, protecting our lives. Do whatever it is that you do, or speak, with joyful purpose. Be present. Do it because you wish to contribute not because you wish to procure.
Revere, live in awe of creation: the natural environment around us is astonishing. Is itself alone enough to inspire reverence.
3:25 We choose the path and therefore we choose the destination. The only character trait which puts you on the path to life is compassion. Without partiality, God will allow each person to arrive at their chosen destination. No other quality of yours will qualify you for eternal life. No, our compassionate God has not created a "hell" but only a soul with compassion can survive the atmosphere of "heaven," as we have come to call it. It's simple logic...without a tolerance for oxygen, earth could not be survived. God told us, here is what you need to be equip with in order to survive here, and this how to create those things. An evil person cannot exist in Spirit, they are simply not equip.
