Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Colossians 3:5-11 (NIV)
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
As a congregation, we’ve talked about this for a few weeks now as we study and worship together each weekend, and as we study in our individual times of devotion: We are saved by God’s grace through faith. There is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor or to impress God. We are saved because of who God is and what God has done. At the same time, the law works to keep us safe and to remind us of our need for God’s grace, because we cannot keep the law on our own. This is our reality. In the midst of this reality, these verses from Colossians encourage us to be mindful of how we live. We are not to chase after worldly things. We are to put away our hard-hearted actions and focus on Christ in all things. Today, be mindful of how you spend your time. What are you chasing after today?