In His Word 12-9-13
And whatever you do in word or deed do it
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Colossians 3:17
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
No matter whom we are, what walk of life
we are in, what color our hair or skin is; none of it even matters when it
comes to ‘waking the walk’. I don’t think God looks at us and says to Himself;
“Well I will let Jack slide on this sin because it’s the way he grew up, it’s
really his parents fault.” I believe God takes each one of us and sees us as
either sinful creatures or saved by His grace and cleansed of all that sin.
Remember when you were a kid and you
wrote a secret message that turned invisible until your friend received it and
added the proper ingredient to it to see it as it really was? That is what its
like when we come to know Jesus; our sins become invisible and as if we never
did them. God forgives us and sets us free of the ropes and chains that enslave
us to those sins. When we turn back to the mess we used to be in, whether it be
lying, addictions, which come in many shapes and sizes some of which are not
illegal but are just very bad for us; it is like we had our sins exposed again
to God and everyone.
Another way to look at it, if that was
not graphic enough, is to look at your nicely washed waxed and detailed car;
then a flock of seagulls fly over. They drop on your car all the nasty sin that
you keep going back to after having been cleaned up by the Holy Spirit. It has to be taken care of right away or it
ruins the work that was done.
As with greedy children, they want more
but once you get that they want something else. This time of year greed is all
over the place and it is not just the little children who are turning green!
Adults become greedy for their kids to have the best toys so they can be better
than the other kids at school, or in their play group. Admit it I am right; we
all want our kids to be the best kids in the world; but we need to remember
that the best in Christ is as good as it gets!
We need to make a serious choice to get
rid of the ‘bad stuff’ in and around us. Stay away from friends who will bring
out lying or slander, and find friends who will lift you up the way God wants
you to be. Friends who will truly be honest with you are hard to come by these
days, everyone is so afraid of offending; a true friend will tell you when you
are waking off a cliff before you get there! We need to warn our kids before
they go off having babies without being fully grown themselves, or before they
do painfully damaging things to their bodies and ruin things that should be
kept honest and pure.
Our God warns us in the Word of God if we
will just listen to Him.
Just as we want the best for our kids God
wants the best for us. He wants us to remain faithful to the calling He has put
on our lives no matter what comes our way. Broken cars, computers, faltering
loans being called just when we need the cash is not going to break you away
from the grasp of God’s love. He will provide everything we need but we need to
trust Him to do so in order to see it.
When
God calls us on our faults we need to know that He still loves us He just wants
us to do what is right. He makes allowances for our faults and gives us
direction to correction.
In the same way He wants us to tell
others of His forgiveness and forgive them in the same way. Instead of talking
about how rotten people are on your social network why not talk to the friend
and try to help them out; the same goes with our kids.
Since God chose you to be the holy people
he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness,
humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s
faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so
you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love,
which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that
comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are
called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Colossians 3:12-15
Lets try being kind, instead of harsh.
When the Bible tells us to put something on it is to say that we are to act
this way or that; put on humility, gentleness and patience in the place of
vanity, cursing and being pushy with people in line that take a long time to
pick out their stamps. Maybe they are counting their money to be sure the
change was right, or that they did not go over budget; in other words pray for
them do not be mean when someone is in line and takes their time. Do not talk about
our friends who are doing the wrong thing, talk to them instead and guide them
on the right path. Speak the truth in the Love of Jesus, unconditionally. So
get away if they are pulling you down, but if you see the sin before it gets
you caught you can use the Holy Spirit to guide your steps to bring them up to
Him.
Dear Heavenly Father, help us this week
to focus on first our lives; that they may be acceptable in Your sight.
Secondly on those around us that we may share the Love of Jesus with those
around us each day; and thirdly to help us not just judge our friends as
failures but to pray for them and help them see the Truth, in Your Word. Give
us Godly boldness to be strong and guide them to You. In Jesus name, amen.
Suggested reading: Colossians 2:1-23, Colossians
3: 1-25, Colossians 4:1-18. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13