Articles
The New Life In Christ – Colossians 3
The New Life In Christ – Colossians 3
“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). Thus Paul declares that we have died (to self) and have been raised up with Christ (vs. 1). According to Col. 2:10-13 and Romans 6:1-4, this happened when we by faith were baptized into Christ. Before our conversion we walked in the way of unrighteousness and sin (vs. 7) but NOW we must live differently. We not only put aside (quit!) the old actions we consider ourselves dead to them (vs. 5, 8).
This new life involves a basic change of thinking at our very core, a change that involves our fundamental thinking about life. We are to ‘set our minds on the things above’ (2); we are to ‘consider the members of your earthly body as dead to’ the old ways (5); we are to be constantly and continually ‘seeking the things above’ (1). Paul speaks of this as being ‘renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created’ us (10).
Many people struggle to change the practices of their lives without changing the core of the thinking. It reminds me of the little boy whom his mom caught with his hand in the ‘forbidden cookie jar’. He explained that it wasn’t what it looked like; rather his hand was practicing resistance to temptation. As long as we keep our mind in the cookie jar of the world and try to resist, we surely will give in and be defeated. Removing the temptation involves removing the desire.
What needs to happen is the changing of our hearts (what we love), our allegiance, our thinking about the world. Peter described going back to the ways of the world as a dog returning to its vomit. The very picture of this causes many people to become queasy and disgusted. Yet we often do not have the same response to returning to our old ways. When we see the old ways as disgusting, abhorrent, and reprehensible, they simply will NOT tempt us. We ARE tempted by our own strong desires, and such desires are the truth about what we love. It is our thinking about the world that needs to be changed.
The more we learn about God (His character, nature, and being) the more we will love Him and His ways. The more we face the truth of the ways of the world and what they really produce in one’s life the more we will abhor and forsake them. The more we fill our hearts and mind with the good things of God the less we will have a desire for that which God proclaims to be evil.
We need bible study. We need the input of our fellow believers to help us grow past our own level of thinking. We need exhortation, encouragement, and reminders. We need to fill our lives with worship of God and thus fill our hearts with desire for God. We need not only to pray FOR others, but we need their prayers for us. Such is at the very heart of our gatherings. We simply need to be more diligent in taking advantage of such.
Hugh DeLong
