Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry…
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves, with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:5, 12-17 (NIV)
The Scripture is a bit longer than usual today. It’s just so good!
Verse five in the third chapter is one of those verses that sneaks up on me. I see the colon mark and know that I am going to be reading a list. A list in this case of sins. I read along and am feeling pretty good about myself! “Hey, I’m doing good in Your sight, Lord!†Then I get to the word ‘and’. At first I read the word ‘greed’. “I’m not greedy. I don’t want everything, or even a lot!†Uh-oh. The word ‘idolatry’ goes through my mental scanner. Do I want ‘things’ more than God? That is one of those questions to get in a quiet place and get naked with God. I mean get real, holding nothing back. God knows it all, sees into all my dark corners and hidden closets, but the point is to confess my sins. I have to clean out my heart before filling it up again with what God desires to put in my heart!
Look at how God calls me chosen, loved, and holy! God wants to fill my heart closet with all the ‘stuff’ that shows that I am His child. My Father wants me to be filled with compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience. God wants me to be humble. He wants me to forgive as HE has forgiven me! God has an inexhaustible amount of all these blessings to give me. Take some time each day and empty out the ‘trash’ and open the doors wide to receive the lush, extravagant blessings that will come in to fill up all those newly cleaned spaces. How beyond ‘WOW’ is that???!!! Do I deserve it? Oh, no! But that is what my great Father does!
And then thanks! God does the cleaning. God does the re-stocking. God gets ALL the thanks and praise! Sing! Speak the words! Lift God in thanks and praise for what He has done, is doing, and will do! I am feeling a dance across the room coming on!
Come on! Let’s do this every day for the rest of this week and see what happens!
