Colosians 3:1-11 followed by Personal Thoughts.

Colosians 3:1-11

1If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self4 with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave,5 free; but Christ is all, and in all.

My reflection on Colosians 3:1-11:

We all struggle with something. Temptations, regret, past hurts, ongoing life issues, etc.

Though we war against our old nature, we who are in Christ have a new nature and the strength of the Holy Spirit on which to draw.

Why does the Bible say to set our minds on the things above? It is because our path to Christian maturity is one we take on purpose. Once we come to a point where we know we are sinners, cannot save ourselves from the wrath of a perfect and holy God, and are in need of a saviour we are given Jesus as Gods solution to restore the relationship between His creation and Himself.

We have been raised to walk in newness of life. Christ is seated because the act of salvation is complete. For those of us in Christ our sins are forgiven even as we fight against our old nature and must live with sins consequences in this life. We must remind ourselves that our old ways are dead within and strive to live and set our eyes above to heavenly things.

We are reminded in these verses of the things and attitudes in which we based our lives before Christ. This is not to shame us for having once walked in these things, but to encourage us to look to Christ, to His sacrifice, teachings, and life, to find thier opposite. We put on the mantle of Christ and have taken on a new nature, as a new creation. Shielded from Gods wrath by the permanent sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

We are therefore no longer identified by our past sin nor should christians be labled by the things we participated in before christ renewed us.

Once we sinners repent of our sin and become christians, as in verse 11, the blood of Jesus and the label of Christ Follower must supercede any labels or identifiers resulting from our past sin.

When we look at fellow Christians we should no longer see Joe/Jane the Adulterer/Felon/Murderer/Thief/Homosexual/Con/Addict/Abuser/Etc.. but we should strive to only see Joe/Jane Follower of Christ. We are not who we once were but have been renewed by Jesus Christ who now advocates for us at the right hand of the Father.