Colossians 3:5 put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature.... The rest of the passage lists some of the "earthly nature" that the people from the church in Colosse were dealing with: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Of course the earthly nature is our sinful nature. We can blame it on Adam and Eve but we are no better. If they hadn't fallen, we would have. The "earthly nature" mentioned by Paul is not exactly the earthly nature I need to put to death. I do have an "earthly nature". Pride. Disobedience. Laziness. Distrust. Gluttony. I am not always righteous, upright, and God-centered as I should be. Actually, I may not even be God-centered most of the time. A God-centered nature would crowd out the earthly natures in me. I wouldn't feel lost, broken, dissatisfied if I were able to focus more on what God wants and less on what I think I want. A person could tell immediately how I differ fr...

Colossians 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. What if all our conversations were full of grace?  Can you imagine how nice they would be?  Even if they were harsh issues, like telling an employee that they need to be on time, every day, to all meetings, or telling a friend that they are headed for trouble if they don't rethink their priorities.  All conversations would be kind, only stating what is necessary using the most gracious words and tone of voice. And those speaking to us would be full of grace. How pleasant! What a goal to strive for! I wonder if it'd be possible to have all our conversations full of grace, even those conversations with people who are growing in Christ, or those who make us mad, or those who are usually difficult to deal with. If we keep ourselves in a state of grace (which is only possible through Christ Jesus), we may be able to steer the tone of any conversatio...

Colossians 4:2-6 (Message) Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude. Don't forget to pray for us, that God will open doors for telling the mystery of Christ, even while I'm locked up in this jail. Pray that every time I open my mouth I'll be able to make Christ plain as day to them. Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don't miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.  This is part of a letter from Paul to the church at Colosse.   I don't know what was going on there.  I don't need to know that to get something from this passage for me now. The part I especially need to take note of is "Make the most of every opportunity.  Be gracious in your speech.  THE GOAL IS TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN OTHERS."  Much of the time a person's goal, whether they know it or not, is ...

Don't you wish you could be like Paul?  Well, my husband wouldn't.  His determination, perseverance, strength, go-to-it-iveness are all traits I wish I had more of. He is so forceful in his faith and trust in the Risen Savior. I read a verse in Colossians where Paul writes " To this end I [Paul] labor, struggling with all his [Christ's] energy, which so powerfully works in me." (Col 1:29) I actually never thought of it before. But now that I am, I wish I felt Christ's energy. I've never prayed for Christ's energy. I have prayed for strength, courage, and peace. I've prayed to not be lazy and for the want to do service or whatever is asked of me. But I've never prayed for energy, let alone Christ's energy.  I know I don't have it. I found this image on the Internet images of renewable energy. It leaves out the most obvious and faithful source of energy. Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, God. I also found several images saying "SAVIN...

Maybe because we are studying the Armor of God but the verses today in Colossians are donned like clothing. Colossians 3:12,14 (ESV): Put on then, ......compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,....and above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.   I pictured getting dressed with these characteristics as with garments of clothing.  I'm picturing layers of clothes with love being the top layer. When I get dressed, it is intentional.  I don't accidentally put on a pair of pants.  I don't accidentally walk into my shirt. First I choose what I'm going to wear. I make a conscious decision about what to wear for the weather conditions, where I'm going, and what I'm going to be doing. It is intentional. So from this image in my head of getting dressed, I understand that it is intentional to put on - physically pick it up and put it on - compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. And to make sure it ...

Colossians 1:9 (NIV) .... asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. This passage tells of Paul's prayer for the Colossians.  He asks God to fill them "with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding".  For some reason when I read this passage, the word "knowledge" is what I saw.  It reminded me of the Garden, where there were two specific trees mentioned. Genesis 2:9 mentions these two trees.  The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  "And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."  Notice that there was no tree of the knowledge of God's will. I guess that was not necessary since they did not know good or evil, they only knew God...... at that point.  In ...