20/20 Vision
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, as I come into Your presence, help me to fix my eyes, my mind and my heart on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Read COLOSSIANS 3:1–11
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.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
It is so easy for fleshly lusts to overtake the believer that Paul’s solution is quite radical: put them all to death (5). When something is dead, it is no longer a threat.
Think Further
The most basic definition of a Christian is this: a Christian is someone who is united to Christ. A church is a community with Christ at its the center. The key to upright living is to fix our eyes on Christ (1,2). Today’s passage speaks about our heart (1)—our will and our emotions—and our mind (2), which refers to our intellect. Every dimension of our being is to be focused on Christ.
We focus not only on what Christ has done but also on what he will do (4). One day we will appear with Christ in glory, so we must set our hearts and minds, our affections and hopes, on the finish line. Only then will we be with Christ and give an account for how we have lived. That realization motivates us to live for him now. The Lord requires us to lay aside our old way of life and put on the new life. There are things in our lives to be rejected decisively (5), and Paul uses some graphic images. We must kill them (5). We must discard the rubbish (8) and throw off the worn and dirty clothes (9,10). Each of the phrases calls us to act decisively, making a clean break with anything that doesn’t belong to our new nature as those who belong to Christ.
The point is made even more clearly in verse 10: “[You] have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” That is God’s restoration plan, his very purpose for our lives. We should be like Christ himself. With our eyes fixed on him and our hopes fixed on that eventful day, it truly will happen.
Apply
The passage urges us to discard anything which does not belong to the new life. Pray for God’s strength to lay aside those things you know must be decisively rejected.
Closing prayer
Lord, help me to manage my own garbage detail, as You have directed me to do.
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