Colossians 3:1-8

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden in Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil, desires, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, and the life you want lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”

How are we as Christians to behave? Certainly, not as the world does. When we come to Jesus, in repentance, and receive salvation, there should be a change in us, not just inwardly, but outwardly as well. We should not look like the world or act like it. We put on the new and take off the old. 

We are told to set our hearts on things above, not on the things below,(the world). We should be concentrating on the eternal, not on the temporary. 

We have died to our old ways, the old person, and we are alive in Christ. And since we have died to our old selves, then we should have little regard for the things of the world, the things we used to do in our sinful nature. We need to seek after those things that please God. As we view the world from God’s perspective, our thoughts and perspectives on the world should change, and those things that used to attract us no longer do.

What are the things that we are told that we should turn away from because they belong to our earthly sinful nature? Sexual immorality- (if you are living a promiscuous lifestyle, or even just being intimate with a boyfriend or girlfriend, it should stop immediately because it displeases the Lord). We must no longer allow ourselves to live impure and lustful lives, we also turn away from any evil, desires, and greed, which is idolatry; (we should not desire anyone or anything above God). All of these things are against God’s will. In addition to these listed above, we are to rid ourselves of anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from our lips. We are made new in Christ, we are given a new heart and new ways of looking at the world. When we seek to please the Lord and see things as he does, practicing any of these things should leave us feeling wretched, and we should run to the Lord asking for forgiveness and help to rid ourselves of our sinful nature. I dare say that if you practice any of these things, (they are a part of your daily life) and you do not regard them as sin that needs to be dug up from its roots in your heart and gotten rid of, you are probably not saved! 

It breaks my heart when I hear foul words coming out of supposedly saved people. How can you allow such filth to flow from the very tongue and mouth that you also use to praise Him? 

As Christians, we should live holy and set apart lives; looking and acting different than the world we live in. We are not to mirror the world and its ways. We Should be making daily decisions to remove anything that would feed or support these desires that are against God, and rely on the Holy Spirit daily in our walk with Christ; so that we can win the battles over our flesh. We are no longer our own, we have been bought with a price. Jesus gave his life on the cross of Calvary, took our shame, and sin upon himself, so that when we come to him repent and turn from our old life,( move away from, no longer do those things) and receive him, we can live new and set apart lives! 

This world is not our home, we look to that eternal and heavenly home with Jesus on high; we need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus at all times.

We must read, pray, and fill ourselves with God’s true and eternal word daily. We must die to the sin that so really besets us; so that we can live. But we must remember that we cannot rid ourselves of these evils by simple willpower alone; it comes only through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us. You may do good for a while, but eventually, your flesh will cry out for what it wants and will win! 

I pray you find yourselves leaving behind anything that hinders your walk with Christ, examining your attitudes and actions daily to see if they are in line with God’s Holy word; that you are submitting daily to His authority in your life, and walking in such a way, that you hear, “well done!”