Colossians 3
Christian comedian Tim Hawkins has a
part of his show where he talks about Christians giving their testimony of how
they came to faith. He complains that
his is boring. He feels that his
conversion just wasn’t very dramatic.
“Why couldn’t I have been a crack addict?” he asks, joking that then his
story of transformed life would be worth telling.
Sometimes those of us who grew up in the
church struggle with understanding how great a difference Jesus makes in our
lives. We know we’re forgiven. We understand that Jesus saved us from our
sins, but we don’t appreciate how badly we needed to be saved. Sometimes having a before and after view
helps to see how amazing God’s grace is.
Colossians 3 contrasts a sinful life
with a redeemed life as it talks about the “earthly” life which is filled with
sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is
identified as a form of idolatry, against the life of God’s holy and beloved
people which is characterized as compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient,
forgiving, and, above all, loving. The
differences are stark. Paul says that
the godly life seeks that which is above, or heavenly, the sinful life seeks
things that are “of the earth.” He is
trying to make clear that the life of sin and the life of faith are different,
even opposite.
If we look at our lives we’ll probably
see that we are mixed bag of earthly and heavenly; sinful and saintly. We struggle to live the conversion we have experienced
and we ask, “Are we any different?” In
many ways, the answer is that we are not.
Christians engage in the same at risk behaviors and non-Christians,
divorce at similar rates, and often fall short of the glory we’ve been called
to. Our brokenness is evident throughout
our lives – even without being a crack addict – but so is God’s grace and
forgiveness. This is why Paul urges us
to, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one
another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with
thankfulness in our hearts to God.”
These all take us into God’s Word, where He tells us again and again of
His forgiveness for us, and we receive it anew that we might live in it.
Lord, I do not always see the change You
make in me, but I pray that by Your grace it would show, and others would see
what You can do in a person’s life; even a person like me. Amen.
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