Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. -Colossians 3:5-8 ESV
Warrior;
As we see in v1, this WORD is for a select group of people; IF THEN you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ARE YOU RAISED WITH CHRIST? IF YOU ARE part of this group- the REDEEMED, THEN, YOU are called to be different to ACT ‘AS IF’; anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created NEW. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. We were created for relationships; Vertical and Horizontal! This is in essence what the 10 Commandments are about- the basic RULES of interaction! The Ten Commandments are in the Bible in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The first 4 Commandments are about our Vertical relationship with God, the second 6 Commandments have to do with our Horizontal relationship with People.
Leader, if you are a NEW CREATION then NEW actions, NEW attitudes are required. This was Jesus’ interaction with Nicodemus in John 3. Nicodemus asked a simple question, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?” (John 3:4) Jesus was quite clear, Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’ (John 3:5-7) That sounds like a COMMANDMENT to me: “You must be BORN AGAIN. Jesus also tells us in Mark 2:22; And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” Jesus is saying, “You can’t put new ideas into old mind-sets. You can’t get new results with old behaviors.”
Conduit, we have a CALLING; chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. (Colossians 3:10-12 The Message) In the Scriptures we are told to PUT ON the Mind of Christ, we are also called to consider, WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? We also sing songs to the Lord that say, GIVE ME YOUR EYES, so we can see the world as Jesus sees the world. These are to be things that we are TO BE CLOTHED in. Every morning after we wake up, we PUT ON NEW CLOTHES! You choose what you PUT ON- choose well! Today, the question we must ask ourselves is, “What are we PUTTING ON?” If it is NOT Love, then we need to QUICKLY CHANGE- in the TWINKLING OF AN EYE!
