2018-03-23
Good Morning Dear Ones,
I’ve been commanded by the Holy Spirit to write about the relationship of Christ and the believers discussed in COL 3: 1-4: 6. Once again, we look at this passage in yet another context than before. COL 3: 1-2 is a clear reminder to keep our minds on the things of heaven and not just earthly things. We must think about earthly things that involve the day to day complying with secular laws that make sense, like traffic laws, avoiding criminal behavior, being responsible for our actions, our families, etc. But, obeying God must take precedence. What happens when God’s law and civil law conflict? To obey God’s law, we must find ways within the system to adjust civil law without breaking God’s commands. It’s not always easy or fast, but we should begin with prayer. This prayer is in the hope that God will give us direction on how to solve whatever the problem is. After many years of apartheid, South Africa was finally able to be free of this patently unrighteous system, for example.
COL 3: 3-4 should be familiar by now. “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your real life is Christ and when He appears, then you too will appear with him and share His glory.” Once we genuinely professed faith in Jesus Christ and have confessed our sin, our old self dies, and He completely changes us inwardly by the renewal of our mind. We are to offer our lives as a living sacrifice, ones no longer wanting to adopt only the standards of the world, but instead, to allow Christ’s standards to be our ideal. [RO 12: 1-2]. For doing the above, we are rewarded with protection from spiritual death and have hope in the promise that we will share in Christ’s glory eternally. We will rule the Kingdom with Him. I personally see this as a goal both bears the weight of earning and deserves to be cherished. Ask yourself how you feel about it. Consider the alternative, which to me is unthinkable.
While God loves us, and wants what is in our best eternal interests, we should remain modest and not over-rate just how important we are. To become boastful about ourselves or our accomplishments is not to show the love Christ taught us. Earthly desires, such as destructive anger, sexual immorality, indecency, evil passions, materialism, and greed (for example), lead to God’s anger. Taken over time without obedient corrections made, this can lead to condemnation. Now, God knows we are not perfect, and He forgives us if we accept responsibility for our disobedient behavior and stop it. But He does have His limits; testing those limits isn’t constructive. We are to do away with our old self with its habits and to put on the new self, which God is renewing in His own image, so that we will know Him better and better [COL 3: 5-11].
So how should we act? We should demonstrate kindness, compassion, humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness toward our fellow man. We should be forgiving, as God has forgiven us [COL 3: 12-13]. I would like to think that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, enumerated in GA 5: 22-23, is a good place to start. This is not all, as we must obey God with thankfulness and joy in our hearts. If we do this, He will give us inner peace. We should show these ideals in our behavior and attitude toward our Lord. This is so little in comparison to what He gives us. We can tap the wealth of His wisdom whenever the need arises. He is always there for us; we can always count on Him [COL 3: 14-17]. So, the real question is: Can He count on us?
PRAYER: O Lord, we are seeking You today, so that we can acknowledge Your kindness, wisdom, and patience. You have been gracious toward us, even through we don’t deserve it. You have chosen us first and made us Your friends [JN 15: 16-17; RO 5: 9-11]. Today, we confess we are far from perfect in our compliance with Your teaching. As such, we are here to confess the sins we are aware of that we commit, and to ask for Your help in stopping the behavior/attitudes. [Confess our individual sins privately and with honesty here]. You have given us great motivation to make corrections and to change our thoughts/behaviors to comply with Your standards. We know we can never be as perfect as You are, but we hold the hope that there will be a time God defines when we will be glorified, i.e. taken up to heaven, deemed acceptable enough for eternal and blissful life of fellowship with You. We leave the awful consequences of our sinfulness behind us and take responsibility in putting You FIRST in our lives. We do this willingly and joyfully, believing that You will not only care about us, but that You will find ways to bless those we love around us. We will endeavor to put a balance in our lives between taking care of ourselves and serving the needs of others. We say this prayer in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: There was too much for me to write to complete the goal set at the beginning of this message. So, I ask your patience and will pick up at COL 3: 18 next week. What has already been written has to do with the interaction of ourselves, the Lord, and other humans. In this context, we must realize something I didn’t know until I was already in my 50’s. It is that God is with us all the time, and that He has an interest in every phase of our lives. I used to think He was with me only when I made of hash of things. But, He also shares our victories too. I know He was there patiently calling to me even before I acknowledged Him as my Lord and Savior. I also know He was there when I finally realized I believe in Him. For a person raised in traditional Judaism, accepting Christ requires a lot of soul-searching, because Jews are taught to reject Christ’s deity. My destructive anger finally dissipated, and I was able to open my heart to Him. He celebrates when we move forward in our spiritual maturity, and cares about us when we think no one else does [1 PET 5: 7]. We can place our worries on His shoulders, and He will help us to work them out step by step. For me, it feels like taking the weight of the world off my shoulders, even though none of my worries are that important. We are free to worship Him and have Him as our Paradigm. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2018. All Rights Reserved.
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