Colossians 3

Real simple thought that occurred to me as I read the Scriptures this morning.

There is a deep and profound dissatisfaction within the human soul.  Just look at the amount of information in our culture about how to change one’s life (weight, wealth, relationships).

Christians haven’t escaped this either.  How could we, it’s a human thing…not a non-Christian thing.

Inside faith circles there are all kinds of books and people encouraging us and giving us ways to become like Jesus, or stay like Jesus once we get there.  There are instructions on things to stop doing and tips on things to start doing.

Colossians 3 lays out a fairly simple road map for us.  It looks like this:  heart, mind, actions.  The “actions” part is broken into 2 branches – taking off and putting on.

Take a look:

Heart – vs. 1 “set your HEART on things above, where Christ is…”

Mind – vs. 2 “set your MIND on things above”

Actions – vs. 9 “…since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self”

Here’s how he breaks down the “taking off” and the “putting on”:

Take off – vs. 5 “put to death…whatever belongs to your earthly nature” and vs. 8 “now…rid yourself of all these things…”

Put on – vs. 12 “as God’s chosen people…clothe yourselves with…” and vs. 13 “bear with each other and forgive…” and vs. 14 “…put on love…” and vs. 15 “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…and be thankful.” and vs. 16 “Let the Word of Christ dwell in your richly…”

I think the problems come for most of us Jesus followers because we live in the “actions” part.  We’re trying to do all the taking off and putting on without first setting our hearts and minds where they should be.

Of equal temptation is to set our hearts (and maybe even our minds) in the right place but never fully carrying out any taking off or putting on.  So, our life always looks the same.

Which of the 3 do you have the most trouble with?

Want to change your life?  Start with today.  And, start here in Colossians 3.