Thursday, May 14, 2009

Colossians 3:3-11 "Hide Away"

Read Colossians 3:3-11.

"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." NIV
I love that I am now "hidden" with Christ in God. When Shay was about two years old, we'd play hide and seek with him. Jim would take Lauren and help her, and I would help Shay. One night, I hid him in a pile of 15 stuffed animals arranged on his floor. It was very ET-esk. All you saw was this little boy's head in among bear, duck, and dog heads. And he was good, too. All he moved were his eyes. Lauren never saw him, and it took Jim a while, too. When anyone looked at the stuffed animals, all they saw was a montage of stuffed animals.

This is what I imagine it means to be hidden with Christ in God. We just melt away from the direct view of mankind, and what they see is God, not me. That's the goal anyway. Unfortunately, there are things that we must put to death for that to happen in its clearest form.

Sometimes we can just fly over these lists of traits that we need to rid our life of and fail to really think how those words translate into the actions of our present society. So let's break it down.

sexual immorality
impurity
lust
evil desires
greed (idolatry)
anger
rage
malice: wanting to cause another pain or wish them ill will.
slander
filthy language
lying

Here's the way The Message says it:

3:5
And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God.
3:6
It's because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger.
3:7
It wasn't long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better.
3:8
But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.
3:9
Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire.
3:10
Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete.
It's impossible to hide ourselves in Christ if we continue to clothe ourselves with the evil of the world. They are in stark contrast to one another and by the way, we know better. If we take off these things, people will see Jesus, not our sin. Do you want to be hidden in Him?

Further Thoughts:
  1. Read through the list of "put offs" again. What ones do you need to work getting rid of? Why do you hang onto it?
  2. Another way of asking question one is, "When people look at you, do they see Christ or one of those sins listed above?"
  3. What other Scripture talks about putting off the old self?

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