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The Message Of Christ

 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. (Colossians 3:16)

          My father wasn’t fond of cats, and the story goes that cats can tell who doesn’t like them and that’s the person they go to. I’m not a people person. I think somehow people do the same thing. I went to a retreat many years ago that was supposed to be delightfully different from most retreats – it had large chunks of time that was to be spent alone, just God and me. I had a stack of books with me (of course) and went to sit on a porch swing.

          And spent the next hour (or more) listening to the trials of someone I had never met. She needed someone to listen to her, and I’m glad I was able to, but not only did she abscond with the time I wanted to spend along with God, she decided that I was her new friend. Don’t get me wrong – she’s a nice person with legitimate needs. I probably am one. It’s just that it seems as though there’s a neon light over my head that draws nice people with legitimate needs.

          Sometimes, the need isn’t as legitimate. The second neon sign over my head seems to read “In need of repair. Come fix me.” And it’s true. I am broken – like everyone else. But the things on which the fixers seem to fixate are often things like the fact that I’m not a people person or not just like them.

          It’s easy to get a little (little?) impatient with these people. Or, maybe for you, it’s a different sort of people. In any case, it’s easy to get a little impatient with people. But today’s passage says that we’re to let the message of Christ dwell among us richly. That message is “Christ loves you. He died and rose for you…” What changes would take place in our attitudes if that message played through our minds more often – if it dwelt richly among us?

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