From Colossians 3: 1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is yourlife is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry).6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7 These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. 8 But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10 and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11 In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!
Someone once said, "If you can't sleep at night and watch television, you'll see one of two things; how to be skinny, and how to become rich." And it is true. And it is making someone rich. We in this country spend billions of dollars in trying to become skinnier and richer. Sadly, someone also said, "There is no such thing as too skinny or too rich." The products advertised are exercise equipment; books on investing or starting multilevel schemes; and they are sold well. A recent USA Today article was on a man who has gone to prison and is out again, and doing the same thing that put him in jail to begin with, namely marketing diet and strength pills that can be and usually are dangerous for you. The Christian has a new plan and a new outlook towards life and the goals are quite different from being skinny or rich.
Paul writes about our new life that we can and should be living in Christ, and it is a spiritually grounded and spiritually motivated life. The believer seeks to please God and to do the things of God rather than the things of the earth. Our old nature has died; we have died to the things of the flesh, and in Christ Jesus we have been born to the spiritual things. The day is coming, and every time we take Holy Communion we affirm that Christ will come again, and this new appearance of Christ will reveal Him and us, for the creatures of glory that we have become. And it starts now or should have started with our faith. Our thoughts, words, and actions should reflect that we are indeed new creatures.
Paul lists the things that he has confronted in the church and the world that should be our dying moments here on the earth: Sexual sins; things that are impure and not of God; being guided by desires of the flesh; seeking to please desires that are not healthy; and being guided by greed (think rich infomercial). The above list is what motivates such outward expressions as the ones listed next; "anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language," and lying to one another. Our outer nature, our clothing as Paul says, should reflect that we are dress in Christ and live like Christ, seeking daily to learn more about this new life and ways to express our new faith in the One who brought us not only life, but the fullness of life. Such a behavior will even eliminate the divisions and lines we draw from the old nature; racial, political and even geographical ones. Our life should affirm a faith that no matter where you're from, how you were raised, how racially different you are, in Christ we are all one.
PRAYER: Let me live, O Loving God, as a new creature. Help me to affirm the fullness of life in ways that express that newness to others. Help me to be an ambassador of that faith; this I pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
