3 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ² Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. ³ For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

⁵ So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. ⁶ Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. ⁷ You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. ⁸ But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. ⁹ Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. ¹⁰ Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. ¹¹ In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

¹² Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³ Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

¹⁶ Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:1-17

Dear God, verse 5 fascinates me:

⁵ So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

First, I am always amused that the lead-off hitter for these lists through the New Testament is sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. It’s even before greed. We’d like to think that sex wasn’t a problem before the sexual revolution 60 years ago, but it’s as old as time. I wonder what acting out in their sexual immorality looked like in Paul’s time. There wasn’t pornography. Was there just prostitution and affairs? It’s hard to understand, but it’s obviously a thing.

But that’s not really what I want to talk about today. I am doing this prayer to you towards the end of my day, and I am wondering why I feel so tired right now. Well, as I sit here and read this passage, I think it’s because I didn’t treat this day as a walk with you. I treated it as a walk through a mine field, all on my own. It wasn’t a day of worshipping you and then carrying you with me. A lot of different things went wrong, and I came home worn down. The world defeated me today. It didn’t defeat you because you weren’t leading me. I was doing it all on my own.

Father, I’m sorry for my sin. I’m so sorry. Yes, I let impurity get into me. Idolatry. Greed. Fear. I think about all of the things that need to be accomplished and I let it overwhelm me instead of charging into it armed with my God by my side, my Jesus covering me, and the Holy Spirit supporting me. You Triune Being is all around me, and I leave it behind. I’m sorry. I am determined to really carry you in my heart. To live with a sense of worshipping you in every breath. To till the soil of my heart and remove the weeds and thorns that choke out your Spirit. “I’m yours, Lord. Everything I’ve got. Everything I am. Everything I’m not. I’m yours, Lord. Try me now and see. See if I can be completely yours.”

I pray this in Jesus’s name,

Amen