God Speaks
Since you became alive again, so to speak, when Christ arose from the dead, now set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where he sits beside God in the place of honor and power. 2 Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here. 3 You should have as little desire for this world as a dead person does. Your real life is in heaven with Christ and God. 4 And when Christ who is our real life comes back again, you will shine with him and share in all his glories.
5 Away then with sinful, earthly things; deaden the evil desires lurking within you; have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust, and shameful desires; don’t worship the good things of life, for that is idolatry. 6 God’s terrible anger is upon those who do such things. 7 You used to do them when your life was still part of this world; 8 but now is the time to cast off and throw away all these rotten garments of anger, hatred, cursing, and dirty language.
9 Don’t tell lies to each other; it was your old life with all its wickedness that did that sort of thing; now it is dead and gone. 10 You are living a brand new kind of life that is continually learning more and more of what is right, and trying constantly to be more and more like Christ who created this new life within you. 11 In this new life one’s nationality or race or education or social position is unimportant; such things mean nothing. Whether a person has Christ is what matters, and he is equally available to all.
12 Since you have been chosen by God who has given you this new kind of life, and because of his deep love and concern for you, you should practice tenderhearted mercy and kindness to others. Don’t worry about making a good impression on them, but be ready to suffer quietly and patiently. 13 Be gentle and ready to forgive; never hold grudges. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
14 Most of all, let love guide your life, for then the whole church will stay together in perfect harmony. 15 Let the peace of heart that comes from Christ be always present in your hearts and lives, for this is your responsibility and privilege as members of his body. And always be thankful.
16 Remember what Christ taught, and let his words enrich your lives and make you wise; teach them to each other and sing them out in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing to the Lord with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, and come with him into the presence of God the Father to give him your thanks.
18 You wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, for that is what the Lord has planned for you. 19 And you husbands must be loving and kind to your wives and not bitter against them nor harsh.
20 You children must always obey your fathers and mothers, for that pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, don’t scold your children so much that they become discouraged and quit trying.
22 You slaves must always obey your earthly masters, not only trying to please them when they are watching you but all the time; obey them willingly because of your love for the Lord and because you want to please him. 23 Work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord and not merely for your masters, 24 remembering that it is the Lord Christ who is going to pay you, giving you your full portion of all he owns. He is the one you are really working for. 25 And if you don’t do your best for him, he will pay you in a way that you won’t like—for he has no special favorites who can get away with shirking.
Source: The Living Bible: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: So, now that we have been made alive in Christ, how do we live it out? First, Paul said that we need to have the proper mind-set. We are to think more and more about things above, in Heaven where God is. This also could include things of beauty, purity, truth, honor, and excellence here on earth as well as in Heaven. (See Philippians 4:8.) We should think no more about our old wicked, earthly ways and habits than a dead person would. We should consider sexual sin, impurity, lust, greediness, shameful desires, anger, hatred, cursing, and foul language along with lying, bragging, and holding grudges as if they were something gross, dead, and rotten, throwing such things out of our lives. Instead, because we are deeply loved, forgiven, and cared for by God, believers in Christ should show tenderheartedness, kindness, and mercy to others. We need to let the peace that comes from God be the ruling force in our lives by being thankful, incorporating biblical truth in every area of our lives, teaching and admonishing each other with wise counsel, cheering each other up by singing hymns, praise choruses and all kinds of God-honoring songs, praising and thanking God in the midst of whatever we do. Paul finishes the chapter with words of instruction to wives, husbands, children, workers, and bosses. He said we are to willingly strive for excellence unto the Lord. If anyone does wrong, He will deal with them. He doesn’t show favoritism.
Prayer: Lord God, please help those of us who are trusting in Christ to “set [our] sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where He sits beside God [the Father] in the place of [highest] honor and power.” (Colossians 3:1 TLB) Don’t let us spend so much time worrying about things here on earth, but keep our thoughts continually turning things over to You and watching You work things out for Your glory and our ultimate good. Holy Spirit, as we depend on You in our hearts here on earth, please help us to see that our real life is in heaven with Jesus and God the Father. Also, please empower us to turn away from the bad, evil, wicked things we used to say and do before You took over our lives. Instead, help us to live in ways that please God because we are under Your management. Please help us to give up our prideful self-determination and to live in response to Your Word and quiet inner promptings. May our thoughts be filled with scriptures, God-honoring songs, words of encouragement to and from other people, and thanksgiving for all that You have been and are doing. Please help us to reflect Jesus Christ in whatever stage or position in life we are in at the moment. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, which one of these He wants you to work on or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will compile a list of practical instructions for godly living from Colossians 3:1-4:6 and Ephesians 4:22-6:20.
- I will ask the Lord to lead me to at least one person who will ask me hard questions on how I’m actually implementing the things on that list and who I can hold accountable in return.
- I will ask the Lord to show me any way in which I am still clinging to old sin patterns or habits and ask Him to forgive me of them and to give me the strength and courage to conquer and replace them with God-honoring ones instead.
- I will seek to be a husband/wife, parent/child, worker/boss that reflects Christ in my daily interactions.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.