Transformation - Day 15

"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. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But  now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. - Colossians 3:5-11


Paul sets out a list of thoughts and actions that Christ-followers are to have nothing to do with.  I will say it again and again and again - that Paul is not making up a bunch or religious "do nots" for their own sake.


Paul is practically saying - you are a new person - there is no reason to live like this.  Jesus saved you for a better life - a free life.

 A key point in this text is something that we should not overlook - "Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming."  It's a statement that reminds us that God does not take sin lightly.  I fear that often the church does take sin lightly.  Our "god" is all bark and no bite or a lovey-dovy Santa figure.  But God is holy and there is no place for sin to dwell in the presence of God.  This holy God loves us, sins and all, but he calls us out of that sin.  His love and holiness should motivate us to "clean up our act" or rather let God clean us up.

And that is the essense of what Paul points to next - "Now is the time to get rid of . . ."

I would suggest you read the list in an attitude of prayer.  It's called the prayer of examen.  Is there anger, slander, lying, filthy language, pornography, greed . . . in your life that God needs to remove?  Let God's Spirit bring to mind those places where you have missed the mark of God's will.  Confess, acknowledge them before God, seek mercy, and then rather than repeat, take the next steps to rid yourself of this dirt.  Find a spiritual running partner to hold you accountable.  Join a group.  Ask God for a good habit to replace the old - something you (and God) would enjoy more than the sin itself.

Come clean before God.  He knows your dirt anyway.  Let him clean you up.

Put on the new life.  "Be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and learn to be like him."

Can't you see that God expects change?  He wants to make you into the person He created you to be.  Why settle for a second hand- half human life?  God offers so much more.

Transformation - Day 12

"So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it." - Colossians 2:16-19

I love Paul's language here.  All this tacked on religious baggage is only a shadow of the reality yet to come.  (CS Lewis, Shadowlands?)  The rules and regulations that we add on to our faith journey turn relationship into religion.  Rather than giving us freedom in Christ - His reality -  they restrict us, slow us down, because they are not the real thing - just a shadow.

Pursue Christ and his righteousness will be imbued upon you, like Moses whose face was found glowing after spending forty days on the mountain in God's presence.

Christ himself is REALITY.

 Again, all the goody two shoes stuff is not an end in itself or a ticket to heaven.  Self denial is not an end.

Fasting works when you do it because more than anything else you want to hunger for Christ.

Worship works when God increases and you decrease.

Prayer works when your desire is to spend time with God, not try to score some God-points.

Self-righteousness, pride has no place in the Kingdom of God.  Because the Kingdom of God is consumed with only one thing - Jesus.

So pious self denial, church attendance . . . even "don't drink-don't smoke" living is never the end.  And if it becomes an end, you will miss the End, the Omega.

You won't be connected to Christ, "the head of the body."

He's the One keeping everything together.

Spend some time, quality time, thinking about like with and without Jesus Christ.

How connected are you?  How have you let the shadows get in the way of reality?  Change.

Transfromation - Day 11

"You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross." - Colossian 2:13-15

(This is harder than I thought, but keeping me disciplined as well.  Thanks for the accountability although my "deadline" shifts far too much.)

I mean, I'm not perfect, but I'm a pretty decent human being. I don't murder, don't steal, keep lying to a minimum, say please and thank you, rarely cuss, haven't committed adultery, only speed seven miles over the speed limit (did I mention I keep lying to a minimum?), generally get along with everyone, mind my own business, live and let live, go to church, throw some money in the basket, don't drink, don't smoke (what do you do?) . . . Well I could go on, but overall I'm a pretty decent law-abiding citizen.

But Paul says that with or in spite of this goody two-shoes lifestyle, without Christ, I'm dead.

Dead. DEAD.

dead?

Christ made me alive.  Christ makes me alive. His life. His death. His resurrection.  The supremacy of Christ! (read Day 5's text again)

I could spend a lot of time writing about the cultural and universal baggage that pervades our neighborhoods and churches concerning the afterlife and our delusions over who's in and who's out. We do a lot of mental juggling and semi-righteous tumbling to give ourselves passing grades into heaven.  I'll stop here.

But Paul says we are dead without Christ, without the cross.  He's just saying things a little different than how Jesus said it himself. . .

"Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned." - John 15:6

You believe Jesus?  No schizo prophet here.

Dead or alive? Connected or withered?