Colossians 3:1-11
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (v. 3) Our lives are “hidden”. Hidden from whom? I have a picture of myself standing behind Jesus. When God the Father looks toward me, he sees Jesus. Moreover, when Satan looks toward me, he also sees Jesus! Unfortunately, in these two instances we are talking about that dead man, that new Fred. Satan knows that it’s useless to look toward that new Fred because Jesus’ shining light blinds him. So he looks toward that old man, this earthly Fred, and he sees all those old weaknesses, that shameful, disappointing past. And that becomes his focus. Sad.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (v. 5) I like that Paul makes this connection between all these sins and idolatry. Let’s go “light” and take on covetousness. Paul says that whatever we are coveting is an idol to us – money, power, THINGS!! That new car, a new house, new furniture, travel, whatever…!! I was thinking about what I covet most in life. Beyond my faith in God and His redemption in Jesus; beyond my wife, kids and their families; beyond our church and our current “life”… Surprisingly to me, I daresay that what I covet most is my free time. I truly have been busy all my life. As an academic my work never stopped – it came home with me every evening, every weekend. Even in travel or on vacation, that course, that research project was always on my mind. Now in my retirement I am more flexible with my time, but I am still busy with my family, our property, the church, whatever. I look around at things that need to be done around me. And truly, I get mildly angry. It’s going to take TIME to get those things done. My FREE TIME!! Yeah, it’s an idol for me… Sad.
Slava Bohu!