Put to Death

Co. 3:1-11

If we have been raised with Christ...Certainly we say that we have. We attested to it in baptism, but is it a reality in our lives. If it is, then we will seek spiritual, heavenly things. We will seek Jesus Christ Himself. Why? Because we have died to the flesh, and our lives our hidden with Christ in God, hidden no longer to be seen. If only that were true, then our flesh, our selfishness wouldn't be so evident.

So what do we do to make this a reality? We must put to death certain things in our life. If we were to put to death a living being, they would cease to exist. The same should be true here.We must make no allowances for these things to ever be seen in our lives again, and if they do surface, we must instantly grieve over them and kill them again. Sadly, too often we make allowances for them and let them coexist with our struggling spirituality. 

This passage lists those things we must put to death: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, idolatry. Oh, we say, these are no problem! But the list goes on, and these may hit a little closer to home. anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk, and lying. None of these things must be found in a believer's life. They definitely cannot coexist with the Spirit of God who indwells us.The passage says that on account of these the wrath of God is coming. Scary! Since we have a new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator we must put off the old self with everything associated with it. Strong words and very black and white. It really leaves no room for those little things that we call personality traits or weaknesses. This calls them sin!

Father,

Give me grace and strength to deal with these areas as sin. Help me never to allow them in my life. Prick my conscience. Make me grieve. It seems like the flesh has such a strong hold on me in certain areas. Help me!

In Jesus name,

Amen