Colossians 3:7-8

Colossians 3:7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 

Before you get on your high horse remember, you once walked in these things too. You’ve got to love Paul, because his writing keeps you humble or should keep you humble.

He’s saying in prior verses before this one that we should put to death whatever in us is worldly, because God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient—those who are practicing these ungodly things. However, before you point your finger at how bad off someone else is, remember you once walked in these things too. Not only that, but you walked in these things when you were living in them. In other words, you didn’t just dabble here and there, you were in it.

Colossians 3:8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 

Now you must put away those worldly desires and ways of life. It won’t be easy because we’re so used to being surrounded by these things. Yet, we can be encouraged. If Paul is telling us to put them away, that’s because they can be put away. But how? The Power of the Holy Spirit will enable you to put away worldly desires and replace them with godly desires. It will take some work. It will take saying no to familiar things. It will require discomfort. But it can be done and it will be worth it.

Colossians 3:6

So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. – Colossians 3:5 NLT

Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. – Colossians 3:6 NLT

Why these sins in particular? I can’t say I know the answer to this. So I’ll simply share thoughts.

1) It could be that these were very specific struggles for the church in Colossae. Remember, Christianity isn’t something people have grown up with at this time, so there has been a lot of dabbling with other religions and beliefs.

2) Scripture says no sin so clearly affects the body like sexual sin. “Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body (1 Corinthians 6:18 NLT).” So, the importance of God’s anger due to these sins can’t be stressed enough.

3) If greed can lead to idolatry, then it’s leading people away from God. Greed won’t lead people to serve but to be served. It won’t lead to generosity but to stinginess. And if it’s that easy to idolize materials, how much easier will it become to idolize one’s self?

All in all, I’d say any of the above is a start for why these sins can infer God’s anger. Let’s be clear, God hates all sin. Sin places a barrier between us and Him. God does not want a barrier between us, that’s why He sent Jesus. God knows the full effect of sin, and in His love, He wants to save us from its destructive patterns. The question is, do we want to be saved?

Colossians 3:5

So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. – Colossians 3:5 NLT

I’ve never been sure why there has been a debate on whether porn is ok. Jesus said if you even look at another with lust, you’ve committed adultery, so porn would definitely qualify as sin.

God knows we’re imperfect. He knows our struggle with sin, but He also knows the power He’s given us to be able to overcome sin. We wouldn’t be told to put something to death if we had no control over it or no ability to obey the command. We’re told to put sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires to death and have nothing to do with it. So yes, sex in any form outside of God’s design for a husband and wife would need to be put to death. If the question is how far is too far when the topic is sex related, that’s a pretty good indicator that whatever you’re considering is probably too far.

Get this. Not far behind, greed is mentioned. A greedy person is an idolater. Yikes! A greedy person worships materials over our Master–God. An idolater replaces God with stuff. He replaces the eternal with the temporary.

Put the greed, the immorality, and the worldly desires to death. If there is anything in your life that you believe you simply can’t give up, knowing it’s not good for you, it’s becoming or has become your idol and certainly the thing that needs to be put to death. Ask God to help you do it today!

Colossians 3:4

And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. – Colossians 3:4 NLT

How amazing is this?! When you dedicate your life to Christ, rather, when your life is Christ, you’ll share in His glory. I know that’s hard to process. I’m still processing it as I type.

One day, Jesus will be revealed to the whole world. We all will have had an opportunity to either say yes to Him or no. For those who’ve said yes, when Christ is revealed as Ruler, Savior, as Eternal Life, will be with Him as His followers.

Talk about making sure you’re on the right side of history.

We certainly don’t deserve this opportunity. Christ did all the work, God did all the loving, and we made a choice. Yet, because of God’s love, the choice was available, and those who said yes will share in Christ’s glory. We didn’t say yes to get glory, but saying yes results in Christ’s glory, and that’s what blesses us.

Colossians 3:3

For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:3 NLT

Do you know the cool thing about this verse? First off, the truth is that we’ve died to this current life. In other words, we’ve decided to follow Jesus, and we know that this life here is fleeting. We’ve chosen to live for Jesus and not ourselves.

The fun part is that the verse says we have a real life that is hidden with Christ. Christ will take good care of our real lives, and our real lives aren’t just hidden with Christ, but they’re hidden with Christ in God.

What types of things are usually hidden? Well, usually something we don’t want people to find or even better, something we want to keep protected. Jesus is protecting our real lives in Him with God.

We face tough times here. We will continue to. The hope, however, is that those of us who are in Christ have life in Him. We have a protected eternal life in Jesus Christ who is with God. Could anything be more assuring than that?

Colossians 3:2

Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
Colossians 3:2 NLT

Stay Heaven-minded. I believe it would be a lot easier to get through life or rather to enjoy life if our focus stayed on Heaven.

I don’t think we should shun the reality of life and its responsibilities by any means, but I do think that there should be hope for the future. As a believer, the reality of Heaven and its perfection awaits you. So, why mope throughout life here when eternity will be so wonderful?

It’s hard to not get beat down. The hurt happening around us and the lack of response to it is hard. Not to mention managing our own personal trials and tribulations that we’re trying to navigate as well. Yet, there can still be hope and still be joy because our sights can still be set on Heaven.

Let’s be clear, Heaven is wherever Jesus is. So we are to set our sights on Jesus and not things of this world. Yes, it’s unavoidable to not think about the world, I mean we live in it, but I believe what we’re being told is to not forget where our eternal home is.

When you understand where you are, but know where home really is, your perspective changes. It’s like a race. You can endure the pain when your sight is set on the finish line. You’re still in the race, you’re still surrounded by other runners, the pain is still there, but you can focus on where you’re going. With a new or better perspective, that race makes the finish line all the more worthwhile.

Greetings

I’ve been thinking, what if we genuinely greeted people? Back in the old old days, people would send their greetings. People would start off a letter with greetings and would finish one just the same.

All throughout the New Testament of the Bible you see the letters to the churches begin and end with greetings. There was an intent in each letter. The intent was for the wellbeing of its recipient. To greet someone was to express goodwill towards them.

Now, don’t get it wrong, the meat of the letters wasn’t sugarcoated. Read the letters to the churches and see that both people and sins were being addressed. However, I think it’s something powerful to be said about the greetings.

1) I think the greeting welcomes people to actually read the letter. Have you ever spoken to someone who is right, but their deliver is so bad that they’re never heard? Well if the beginning is bad who wants to stick around for the ending?

2) I think the greeting sets the tone and softens the heart of the reader. If a greeting was a salutation to express goodwill, then the hope is that the content in the letter is to do the same. You’ll more likely to receive what I say if you know I genuinely care about you. See, as your sister in Christ, I can greet you and wish you well while holding you accountable in your walk with Christ. If I attack you from the start you already wonder about my true motives.

I wonder if it’s possible to go back to this lifestyle. What if we entered homes, texted, or walked into work with genuine greetings? What if our hello wasn’t just a custom but a genuine expression of interest and connectivity. What if we greeted people and meant it? What if we tried just to see what might happen?

May the peace and grace of God be with you.

Colossians 3:1

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
Colossians 3:1 NLT

I finished my final post on Romans 12. Now, it’s time to dive into one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, Colossians chapter three. Today, we’ll look at verse one and continue to work our way through this awesome chapter.

We jump right into this chapter with an encouraging reminder. You, believers, have been raised, or better yet resurrected, after dying to a life of sin. This new life is with Christ! We’ve not been raised to live the life we lived before Jesus, but to live a brand new life with Christ because of Christ. If we were resurrected to live the same life as before what would be the point? There would be none, so to begin this chapter we begin with the newness of life that we have because of Christ.

Because we have this new life with Christ we can set our realities on heavenly things where Christ is, seated right next to God. This verse doesn’t say set your mind on the dreams of Heaven or the wishful thinking of Heaven. It says the realities of Heaven, meaning Heaven is very much real. God is very much real. Jesus is very much seated next to God. And He is very much seated in a place of honor because He is very much deserving of honor and adoration.

Don’t pretend that life isn’t happening around you, but stay rooted in the realities of Heaven. In other words, with your new life in Christ, set your sights on the realities of Heaven. Stay focused on who Jesus is and where Jesus is, because when life is hard, you will need this reminder to come back to. Jesus is sitting on high in Heaven and one day, as His follower, you will be in Heaven too.

True Treasure

In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Colossians 2:3 NLT

In Christ all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. There’s not just a wise gem or two, its not just some treasure, but all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him.

Hidden in Him doesn’t mean that you can never find these things. It means that you have to search for them, and in order to search for them you have to look to Christ. Why? Because anything worth having is worth working for.

Treasure is valuable and it takes work to find it. Christ is our greatest most valuable treasure and worth searching and getting to know. In getting to know Christ, we begin to have a desire for a relationship with Him. It’s through this relationship that we begin to obtain the treasure of wisdom and knowledge because they are found in Him.

Morning Time

What is the first thing you do when you wake up every morning? Why?

The first thing I do is say thank You, God. Thank You for waking me up Lord. Then I read Colossians 3:12-15 because it’s my daily scripture for the year.

¹² Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³ Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

After that, I read some devotions and prayers before I get out of bed usually. Then I when I get out of bed, I get on my knees and ask God to fill me with the Holy Spirit, and let loving Him and people be my goal, even if nothing else is accomplished (either Rick Warren or Andy Stanley mentioned that).

Why? Why do I do this? Why do I fill my morning with prayer and scriptures? I think I will narrow it down to three reasons.

Reason 1: I am grateful. God allows me to see another day to live out His plan for my life. I’m so grateful especially when I know that the day before maybe I didn’t do that like I should’ve. Surely, I can invest my morning time with God. I want God to have the first of my day, when I’m most refreshed.

Reason 2: It’s less distracting at this time. At the end of the day, I’m a little worn out, and I should still have this time of course, but it’s easier to get distracted. I’m refreshed and hopefully more focused in the morning. People in my life aren’t up as early as me, so it’s easier to focus in the morning.

Reason 3: I’m nicer. Trust me, if you’re around me, you want me to have this time. You would not like me if I didn’t have this.

Thank You God for our morning time. What a blessing that You always keep the date, even when I’m distracted, even when I’m overwhelmed, You always show up and give me 100% of Your time and attention. That’s beautiful to think of. God of Wonders pays attention to me. In Jesus’s name, amen.