So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ. And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It's because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn't long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.
Colossians 3:1-7 The Message BibleYou are probably aware of the saying, "It is a woman's prerogative to change her mind." What you may not know is that there are dozens of discussion groups about it - most of them asking for the definition of prerogative. Loosely defined, it's a right or privilege reserved for a specific individual or group of individuals with a certain rank or position. The dictionary lists several types of groups or individuals of rank, but the common denominator is that they are considered to have a higher status than the average Jane or Joe. They decide how things will be done. It's their prerogative. They tend to look at life from their vantage point and exercise their prerogatives accordingly. They think of themselves as "Large and in Charge!"
Now, before you're too hasty to agree that that sort of privilege is cool, let's re-read our text for today. So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't [...be] absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, .... See things from his perspective.
Do you want to live life according to your prerogative? ...doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy? That is the way of death for your soul (verse 5). Or - will you do as James suggests in James 1:5? If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. You can't be wiser than God, so let's do life according to His Word. Let's do it from Christ's perspective. You know - Change our minds.
Prayer:
Father,
We want to pursue those things over which Your Son presides. Give us focus, with eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart that hastens after You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen
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