Acting Toward One Another (TMF:2795)

Friday, January 23, 2026

Peace to Live By: Acting Toward One Another (TMF:2795) - Daniel Litton
(Tap to play feature or right-click to download)

Verse 12: “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (ESV). Within the diversity of believers within in the church, Paul then tells them how they need to act toward one another. It’s a very fitting moment, a fitting time for this statement to be put forth. Paul had just demonstrated how all are included, and therefore, how each should relate to the other (and this despite any prevailing societal prejudices) is laid out. Each of these groups is chosen of God, as all who believe are then chosen of God. That’s important because it shows that no one is included as a second class citizen, but all are noted as “chosen” on an equal plane. And those whom are chosen, are said to be “holy and beloved.” Everyone who believes is made holy in God’s sight, whether they are acting holy in this life or not. That born-again spirit makes them holy, and one day their flesh will become holy.

Within Christ, All are Equal, Part 3 (TMF:2794)

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Peace to Live By: Within Christ, All are Equal, Part 3 (TMF:2794) - Daniel Litton
(Tap to play feature or right-click to download)

Christ died for everyone, and everyone who believes in his death on the cross and rising from the dead can have salvation. No one, or group of people, is seen as special as far as salvation goes, as far as the ability to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Within spiritual status, then, there is no separation. God deals with all the same. Paul brings up the “barbarian” in the verse, which seems to denote a group of individuals of which the Greeks saw as uneducated. It would be similar in the United States today to calling someone a hick, or a hillbilly. The “Scythian” was a person who was part of a tribe of people who often engaged in warfare, those of which resided in the wilderness. What would likely come to our minds, in thinking of American history, would be the Native Americans of old. They were a group of individuals who did things their own way. The Colossian mind wouldn’t even think of those in these other groups as being included with them, but Paul says all are included.

Within Christ, All are Equal, Part 2 (TMF:2793)

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Peace to Live By: Within Christ, All are Equal, Part 2 (TMF:2793) - Daniel Litton
(Tap to play feature or right-click to download)

Christ doesn’t differentiate based on worldly conditions and circumstances, upon the makeup of one’s flesh, the flesh that he or she resides in as a spirit. Within the church, all have the same status as a new creation in Christ. We are used to this language nowadays, and this is how we practice. But back then, in the time of the Colossians, it would have been unheard of. While in the Old Testament times God dealt with the Jewish people, the Nation of Israel, those who were of the Jewish race, during Paul’s time, and now during our time, God offers the free gift of salvation to all. Everyone is included. Christ died for everyone, and everyone who believes in his death on the cross and rising from the dead can have salvation. No one, or group of people, is seen as special as far as salvation goes, as far as the ability to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Within spiritual status, then, there is no separation. God deals with all the same.

Within Christ, All are Equal, Part 1 (TMF:2792)

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Peace to Live By: Within Christ, All are Equal, Part 1 (TMF:2792) - Daniel Litton
(Tap to play feature or right-click to download)

Colossians 3, beginning in verse 11: “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all” (ESV). Being new creatures in Christ is where we left off the last time, new creations, and Paul expands on that for us today. In this verse, he is telling us something revolutionary. Not so revolutionary to us, here in twenty-first century America, but a line of logic definitely new to the Colossians believers. People were used to being divided up in society. The Jews versus the Gentiles, which is the same as the circumcised versus the uncircumcised. And then there were the other groups among the Gentiles, all the way to those who were free versus those who were under the bondage of slavery. It is in that context that Paul says that, within Christ, all are equal, all are seen as the same.

Understanding Christian Growth, Part 4 (TMF:2791)

Monday, January 19, 2026

Peace to Live By: Understanding Christian Growth, Part 4 (TMF:2791) - Daniel Litton
(Tap to play feature or right-click to download)

This spiritual milk causes us to grow, and then eventually, after a long time, we get into the spiritual meat. Peter didn’t even talk about that. But that seems to be a fair assessment. Going back to what Paul told the Colossians, the knowledge, as we learn it, actually renews us day after day into being in the image of our Creator, into the image of God, into the image of Christ. We are called Christ-ians, so we should resemble Christ in some manner, right? This can only be accomplished through learning knowledge about God things, whether that’s done through reading the Word, the Bible, or whether through reading some commentary, or a book discussing Christian things, or listening to or watching sermons. It’s getting us in line with the truth of God so that we can grow to “be imitators of God” as Paul told the Ephesians (Ephesians 5:1, ESV).