For whatever the reason, at this date a few days before Christmas, I am led to present a few vital things from Colossians Chapter 3. This chapter shows the results of our union with Christ through putting off evil habits, and putting on (like fine new clothes) the things associated with Christ. The chapter then reiterates what Ephesians chapter 6 speaks of regarding the various relationships we have in this life.
As I present this chapter, I want to read from the “Williams New Testament” for it helps put the concepts recorded in this chapter into more easy to read language. Starting in verse 1 we see:
“So if you have been raised to life in fellowship with Christ, keep on seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Practice occupying your minds with the things above, not with the things on earth.
For you have died, and your life is now hidden in God through your fellowship with Christ.
When Christ, who is our life, appears, you too will appear to be glorified in fellowship with Him.”
Some sections of God’s Word are so very deep and beautiful, language cannot begin to express even a small amount of all God is attempting to communicate. When we get born again, we have the challenge laid before us to live in fellowship with Jesus Christ. This union is our key to successful living as a believer. In every aspect of life, we strive to be as He is, think as He thinks, do as He does and live as He lived when He walked on this earth. This is our calling as Christians, to rise up mentally to become more Christ like in our attitudes and lifestyles.
We attain this fellowship with Christ through what Biblically is called the “renewed mind”. This process consists of setting aside everything associated with the old nature and putting on the mind of Christ. We do this by first and foremost actively seeking the things above and not the things on this earth. We must practice occupying our minds with spiritual matters and not filling our minds with the filth of this world. Certainly Romans chapter 8 would provide a nice companion study to this one.
Romans 8:6 says to be carnally minded (have the mind of the flesh) is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. It goes on to talk about the mind of the flesh being at war with God due to its rebellion against God’s commands. Of course Galatians 5 and Ephesians 4 also devote long sections to this subject of the “renewed mind”. Back in Colossians3 picking up the record in verse 5:
So once and for all put to death your lower, earthly nature with respect to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is real idolatry.
It is on account of these very sins that God’s anger is coming.
You too USED to practice these sins, when you USED to live that sort of life.
But now you too must once and for all put them all aside—anger, rage, malice, and abusive, filthy talk from your lips.
Stop lying to one another, for you have stripped off the old self with its practices,
And have put on the new self which is in the process of being made new in the likeness of its Creator, so that you may attain a perfect knowledge of Him.
In this new relation there is no Greek and Jew, no circumcised and uncircumcised, no barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is everything and in us all.”
Very simply put; we must reckon the old nature dead. We must once and for all put to death those things verse 5 said were really nothing but idolatry. Verse 6 specifically states WHY the wrath of God is coming soon on this world. It is because of the 5 things mentioned in verse 5 which put together equal that which God genuinely hates which is idolatry. This is why when it comes to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed; these things must not be sentenced to life in prison with attempts made to “reform” them, they must be executed once and for all.
Before we were saved, we USED to practice these things. They defined our lifestyle and manner of life. But now that we have graciously been saved, we need to first execute the things in verse 5, but also put off (or aside) certain things. The attitudes and behavior we are to “get rid of” are the unholy trinity of anger, rage and malice along with abusive and filthy talk.
It is indeed difficult in our day and time to get rid of anger and rage issues for the world is made up of millions of things that provoke us to anger. Jesus certainly got angry at certain things, and there is no doubt “righteous indignation” available in certain situations. But there is huge difference between selectively getting angry at unbelief vs. living in a constant state of rage. Anger and rage provide the fertile ground for malice of all types and forms.
Also to be put away are the twin verbal sins of abuse and filthy talk. Abusive talk is really nothing but slander. It is obvious throughout God’s Word that He does not advocate nor put up with gossip, backbiting and any kind of talk behind other’s backs. He also does not put up with any kind of abuse; whether verbal or physical. Verbal abuse is every bit as destructive as physical abuse, and in some ways it is worse. Verbal abuse and filthy talk must be put away so as to not offend and hurt other believers. There is no place among Christians for rude, obnoxious and filthy jokes and talk. Simply put it all away.
Believers MUST stop lying to each other. God wants and demands honesty among His people. Lying is straight from the heart of the devil, for according to John 8 the devil is the father of lies. It is so very easy in our culture to start “hedging on the truth” or telling little “white lies”. A lie is a lie, whether it is white, yellow or red. The whole rationalization process the prophet Samuel exposed in Saul in 1 Samuel 15 started with “hedging” the truth. Lying runs rampant among Christians today, and it is horrible situation which needs to be confronted and corrected.
Starting in Colossians 3:12, we see the positive side of the renewed mind. The process of changing our thinking involves both putting off and putting on. There are certain things we must consciously stop doing and there are things we must make a conscious effort to do. It is equally difficult to stop doing old habits as it is to develop new ones. In both cases it takes time, effort and patience with yourself. Habits take time to develop and new habits take practice to become “second nature”.
“So as God’s own chosen people, consecrated and dearly loved, you must once and for all clothe yourselves with tenderness, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience; you must keep on
Forbearing one another and freely forgiving one another; just as the Lord has freely forgiven you, so must you also do.
And over all these qualities put on love, which is the tie of perfection that binds us together.
Let the peace that Christ can give keep on acting as umpire in your hearts, for you were called to this state as members of one body. And practice being thankful.
Let the message of Christ continue to live in you in all its wealth of wisdom; keep on teaching it with thankfulness, in your hearts singing praise to God with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
And whatever you say or do, let it all be done with reference to the Lord Jesus, and through Him continue to give thanks to God the Father.”
The qualities of God in Christ Jesus are equated to “new clothes” in this section. First we take off the old dirty clothes we saw previously and now we “put on” our new clothes designed by God and first worn by Christ. We are to clothe ourselves with tenderness, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Wow, what a list to start with. Each one of these 5 things denotes the “soft” side of our God of love. We cannot make the old nature become these things; they are simply part of the new clothes we “put on” by changing our thinking to be in alignment with the Word of God.
We must keep on “putting up with” each other and freely forgiving one another even as the Lord has freely forgiven us. Notice the two usages of “freely”; we were not just forgiven, we were FREELY forgiven. We are not just to forgive, we are to FREELY forgive. Remember how many times Jesus said we are to forgive? Seventy times seven, which means as many times as it comes up.
Putting all these wonderful qualities together we have LOVE. Love is the rope that ties our hearts together. Love is the tenderness, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance and forgiveness we manifest toward each other. Love springs from the renewed mind. The “agape” love we are to love each other with, is the love of God in our renewed minds in manifestation.
We are to let or allow the peace of Christ to act as an umpire in our hearts. Allow the peace which passes all understanding to tell you when you have committed a infraction, when you hit a foul ball or when you “stepped over the line”. It is so great how the word “rule” is really best translated as “to be an umpire” or a judge. PEACE is to be the umpire, not people. For more information please refer to a post I did a few days ago on “answers of peace”.
Finally this section urges us to allow the very message of Christ to LIVE in us with all its wealth of wisdom. We are to keep teaching and sharing this message no matter what. We are to stay thankful for the honor of sharing the message of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are to speak with our lips the message of Christ and keep singing praise to God in our hearts with songs and hymns. This, by the way, defines the very heart of “worship”. Worship is simply praising God in our hearts, singing and speaking to HIM with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
Whatever we say or do, we are to do it all with reference to the Lord Jesus and giving thanks to God while doing it. Everyone should know we are Christians. Everything we do and say should reflect the Christ within us, for we are Ambassadors for Christ. Our lives are a blessing to this world, just as Jesus Christ life was. In this season when people should be thanking God for so loving the world that He gave us His son; we should be living epistles of that love as we strive to manifest to others the love of God in Christ Jesus.
What better gift to give the ones you love this holiday season than the gift of the love of God in YOUR renewed mind in manifestation. Just last year, my gift to many people was forgiveness. I forgave many people I had harbored ill feelings toward for years and I begged forgiveness from many people I had wronged years ago. It was a very cleansing time and I thank God I did it. Forgiveness along with all the other qualities of the God’s love in our renewed minds in manifestation provides the greatest gift we could offer to anyone not only this coming week, but for the remainder of our lives. God bless you and I pray you have a wonderful holiday season.
spiritual food for thought 