Memory
Verse Colossians 3:5(KJV)
“Mortify
therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry”:
As Christians, we are expected to live holy lives;
today’s passage gives us a list of things that can serve as a hindrance to
living holy. We must rid ourselves of those things. Holiness is a must for
every Christian, there is no compromise in Christianity. Hebrews 12:14b tells us
that without holiness, it is impossible to see God. What are those things that
can hinder us from living holy lives according to today’s passage?
·
Focusing on earthly things
·
Earthly nature- sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed
and idolatry
·
Disobedience
· Anger
· Rage
·
Malice
·
Slander
·
Filthy language
· Lies
To live a holy live in Christ, we need to get rid of
these things listed above. When we gave
our lives to Jesus by confessing and accepting him as our Lord and Saviour, we
acquired a new life. We should no longer go back to our old ways but focus our
minds on Christ because our new life is in Christ, we represent Christ now.
We are no longer living in the flesh. It is our
lifestyle that will differentiate us from the unbeliever. When we were in the
world it was normal for us to commit these sins and even to an unbeliever it is
normal but now we are new beings in Christ, we should put away our old lives 2
Cor 5:17 says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old
things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”.
It may be difficult to put off these things if we
keep focusing on them; we find out that when we focus our minds on Jesus, these
things disappear. Anger, lust, sexual immorality etc. all start from the heart,
before we commit any sin, it has actually been thought about whether knowingly
or unknowingly. So, we need to discipline our heart, we need to renew our mind
by the word of God. It is the word of God that will transform our hearts and
enable us to live holy. (Romans 12:2)
What goes into our hearts really matters, if we take
in the word of God, we will bring forth the word of God but if we take in
rubbish, we will bring out rubbish. Some people find it really difficult to
control their thoughts and the devil uses our thoughts to tempt us. The bible
warns us to be careful about our thoughts because they produce the issues of
life (Proverbs 4:23)
It is important to be grounded in the word of God,
and we need to listen to gospel music, read Christian books and articles and
listen to messages so that we can grow spiritually. When I used to listen to
secular music, I discovered that it was affecting negatively and even though I
didn’t want to admit it then, it unconsciously begun to dominate my thoughts,
sometimes when I awake in the morning, instead of worshipping God, a secular
song comes to mind and I immediately start singing it.
We need to be very careful, to live a Holy life in
Christ isn’t always easy but the grace of God has been given freely to everyone
through the death of Jesus. Let us therefore focus on Christ and follow his
examples. God bless you.
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