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Devotion Holy Living 1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. Colossians 3:1-6 NIV When we are in front of other people, sometime we pretend to be Christian. In church, we can shout the hardest and pray the loudest. We can sing every hymn and clap at every gospel song. We can smile and pretend we are doing just fine and there is no need for us to go to the alter. We put our money in the pan and "know", we did our good deed for the week. Before reading these verses, I started off with a prayer. I often don't do that, I just read some verses in my Our Daily Bread devotional or Sunday School lesson and go about my day. This time I prayed for the Holy Spirit to first clean my heart and I confessed a sin that had been hounding me for weeks. It was like someone popped my bubble, while reading I discovered my real self again as tears streamed down my face out of no where. That real self had been un-Christian in her thoughts, words and deeds. You see back in biblical times, the Israelite people always got in trouble with God. They always turned from Him and worshiped small, insignificant gods of other cultures (read the Old Testament books like 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles). They seemed to forget He brought them out of slavery and gave them a "land flowing with milk and honey." People like to see the visible, they don't want to be bothered with the invisible. So the Israelites often used statues, golden calves, asherah poles, etc. to replace a mighty, passionate God. Today, we may not worship a little statue in our living room, but idolatry takes on a different form. First, let us define the word idolatry. Idolatry is ANYTHING that solely takes the place of God in our lives. Look at the list given to us in Colossians - "sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:6" All of the sins listed start off as a temptation, and if we are not careful they become a sin that overtakes our minds and bodies. Have you ever had a secret crush on someone before? I have had one for quite a while now. I tried to make excuses or even ignore the still small voice that says, "Why are you thinking these impure thoughts?" Eventually, I would unconsciously become slack with my prayers and bible study because I was thinking about my crush all the time. I've come to the realization that my mind should solely be on God. There is no need to fantasize about what could be, instead I should trust that he will provide a God-fearing mate. Some questions to ponder...
When you first come to Christ, there may have been some individuals, who remember you before your conversion. They may say statements that begin with , "I remember when you did..." As a child of God, you know better than anyone, where God has brought you from. Now you have to make a conscious commitment to "rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips." These types of behavior are not acceptable in your new way of life. When I first read anger in the list, I thought well I get angry sometimes. It depends on how you handle your anger. Remember Jesus did get angry when he found the merchants selling their goods in the temple. He was angry enough to turn the tables over and run them out of God's house. This is a "good" type of anger. The characteristics that make a Christian stand out from the world is how he/she handles emotions like anger. Notice in Col. 3:8, anger is grouped with malice, slander and filthy language. All of these grouped together make a very ugly individual, definitely not a Christian who has committed his/her life to live each day as Jesus would. Have you ever met a person who is sweet as chocolate cake (Mmmm!) on Sunday, but sour as a lemon (Ughhh!) on Monday? I believe living HOLY is something that must work from the inside. You can shout and dance all day in church Sunday, but how you treat your co-worker on Monday or even your spouse/children after Sunday service is what counts! It all comes down to the last verse shown here "there is no Greek (gentile) or Jew" -- we are ALL children of God. He expects us to treat each other as such. Too many people avoid churches because of the church people or so-called Christians. What better way to witness about Jesus and his gift to nonbelievers than to reflect the His image in our talk and walk. For permission to reprint this devotion or study in a publication, please contact Tyora Moody at editor@faithwebbin.net or visit her personal Web site, CookieAisle.com.
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