You Are What You Wear
Opening Prayer
Think about how you came to faith. Give thanks to the Lord for rescuing you from sin and for changing you.
Read Colossians 3:1-11
[1] Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. [3] For you died, and your life is now 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, 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. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What does Paul tell us to "put off"? To "put on"?Here, and in the next Colossians passage, Paul’s original readers are exhorted to be appropriately “dressed” (9,10) as people who now follow Christ. But it’s a bit more significant than an altered appearance. The self that’s put on is one that’s becoming more like Christ. This passage also notes the clothes that have been taken off and destroyed. Licentious behavior (5) and destructive attitudes (8,9) may have characterized the Colossians’ past behavior (7), but they can no longer live like that as Christ’s followers. It’s not always easy, though. Anyone in a threatening or unpleasant situation could be forgiven for being angry or aggressive, for example. Verses 1 and 2 point the way for us to be wearing the “right clothes,” fixing our hearts and minds, our emotions and thoughts on Christ. We have died to self (fact) and live in Christ (fact); our behavior as his followers aims to reflect who we are in him.
Apply
If you asked a friend how your behavior matches up with your status in Christ, what might he or she say?
Closing prayer
Based on what this passage says about the Christian “walk,” ask God’s help to start “dressing” more appropriately.
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