Tuesday, September
18, 2018
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. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. 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 3:1-11(NLT)
Paul used athletic illustrations
to talk to the early church about how to live the Christ-life. He called it a race, chasing the prize of
crowns (as in the Olympic games), and doing training like a prize fighter. But here, to the Colossian crowd, Paul points
to the seminal, most basic disciplines for elevating our game – getting rid of
the kind of raw crudeness that so permeates our culture today.
Anger, rage, malicious behavior,
slander, and dirty language; my, oh, my, one would think Paul is talking about
political campaigns in recent memory…or Hollywood movies! And, I think, one would be correct. But don’t be too quick to jump to the
conclusion that Paul is missing the mark on every-day, normal, not-so-famous
people like us.
It is said that culture reflects
art, and vice-versa. It’s true; both the
behavior of people and the art produced out of that culture inform and
influence each other. Seeing an image of
a shooting plants an indelible image on a person’s brain. Producing “art” that reflects a violent act increases
the influence of that image to others.
If “pure” art (painting, video,
photo) has power to influence people who view the art, imagine how much
influence our actions, which are also an art form, possess to influence
people. It’s like a tornado’s cone – the
more the wind and pressure build, the bigger it gets. The more seedy our behavior, the worse the
total effect on those around us.
This is why Paul encourages us to
strip off all the crude, rude, harmful behavior. We may feel independent and perfectly
justified to act, talk, think like we want, but a Christian is never free to
exert any influence except Christlikeness, the agape’-love of God. Elevating our game means passing over the
base nature and setting our sights on higher things. We are to aspire to the honor of Heaven in
the way we treat people, talk to people, and lead people with our influence
(our actions).
Granted, this is a lot harder than
just acting the way that pleases you most; a whole LOT harder! But, this is the kind of living which pleases
Christ, and builds others up. The only
other choice is to tear down and destroy.
For You Today
That new nature you were given when you gave your heart to
Jesus means you’ve said goodbye to the old nature. But don’t forget this: that old rude, crude, and destructive nature will
still try to come back home and have its influence over you. So, just like you get ready to meet each day
by dressing with physical clothes, elevate your game; keep stripping-off that old
nature garment, and putting-on Christ as your new nature garment.
You’ll be best-dressed wherever you go!
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