Living as a Christian

I wasn’t sure what to write about for a long time and kept toying with ideas in my mind. When I went to Bible Study last Thursday, I knew exactly what to do. We have been studying the book of Colossians, a letter Paul wrote to tell how to be a true Follower of Christ. A Christian does good things, but goes above and beyond simply claiming Christ’s name. Our heart must change. But,what are good things? Is this left up to our own understanding?

Proverbs 3:5-6NIV Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths.

Colossians 3
Living as Those Made Alive in Christ
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above,not on earthlythings. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your [a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. [b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ isall, and isin all. 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Verse 2
Have eternal goals. Volunteer for organizations because you want to share the love of Christ, not because you need your resume to look good for employers. God see the resume of your heart. God knows your motives, and they are to be pure. Verse 3 This means you died to yourself. You live directly for God. God lives through you. EVERYTHING you do is for the glory of God and not yourself. This can include anything from shopping wisely versus meaningless purchases to choosing healthy options compared to being drunk flat on your back. If what you are doing makes people wonder if you love Jesus, there is a problem.

Verse 5
sexual immorality- sex before marriage ( Hebrews 13:4,1 Corinthians 7:2,1 Corinthians 6:18,2 Corinthians 12:21) http://christianity.about.com/od/whatdoesthebiblesay/a/sexandthebible.htm

impurity- Purity is more than just setting a few limitsin your dating life. It’s more than a list of dos & don’ts. The definition of purity is a TOTAL commitment of your life to God (a commitment to Godliness in every area of your life).http://www.christian-single-woman.com/christian-purity.html

lust-In summary then, lust is a sexual desire that dishonors its object and disregards God. It’s the corruption of a good thing by the absence of honorable commitment and by the absence of a supreme regard for God. If your sexual desire is not guided by respect for the honor of others and regard for the holiness of God, it is lust. Take honor, for instance. God established a relationship called marriage. In it a man and a woman make a life-long covenant to honor each other with faithfulness and love. Sexual desire becomes the servant and the spice of that covenant bond of mutual honor. Therefore, to say to another person, I want you to satisfy my sexual desire, but I do not want you as a covenant partner in marriage basically means: I want to use your body for my pleasure, but as a whole person I don’t want you. And that is dishonoring and therefore lustful. Lust is sexual desire minus a commitment to honor the other person. http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper88/pipe0008.htm

evil desires-http://www.titusinstitute.com/spiritualwarfare/desires.php

greed-idolatry. Putting your own wants above theAlmighty God

Verse 7
Once you decide to become a Christian, you must change your ways. Your actions are the proof of your new heart to please God. 2 Corinthians 5:17(NKJV)Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Verse 8
Anger-a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong; wrath; Rage-a fit of violent anger Malice- desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another, either because of a hostile impulse or out of deep-seated meanness Slander- a malicious, false, and defamatory statement or report I don’t need to define filthy language -Could it possible mean that what we SAY actually matters??? YES. Ephesians 4:29 NIV -”Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. “

Verse 12
We are indeed loved and holy. Do we act as if we know we are loved Almighty God? Do we act holy? Compassion-definition of compassion must include human kindness as well as good deeds. Someone cannot have human kindness in them unless they have the love for others. God is the best example of compassion. He loves all of mankind whether or not any one individual loves Him or not. Because of this love, God desires to bless us. 1 John 3:17 http://www.access-jesus.com/definition-of-compassion.html Humility- Doing things based on God’s plan and commandments. Saying ” I’m not good enough” still focuses on you. Whether God wants you to work with the president or as a custodian, do it for the glory of God. Patience- wait on what God. If you feel like your prayers are not being answered, rethink what you have been praying. Does it line up with the word God?Maybe the answer is not yet or maybe its no. Perhaps has better plans for you that you have for yourself. http://www.christinyou.net/pages/patience.html

Verse 13
Forgiveness is an action of love. John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Do you believe that you are forgiven of your sins? You are! All you have to to is ask for forgiveness and “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12 Guess what else. He actually purposefully forgets our sins!! Hebrews 10:17 “And their sins and iniquities I will remember no more.” Repent and forget. http://heavenlyheartburn.wordpress.com/2006/05/12/can-god-forget/

If God, the one who created the world with speech who gave His one and only son to die for OUR sins who wakes us up every morning who literally breathed life into us who keeps the sun and moon in the sky who is part of a Trinity that we still can’t understand ( and so much more!) can forgive our sins no matter how horrible,

Then surely we can forgive someone: for cutting us off in traffic for stealing from us for intentionally harming us for gossiping about us for betraying us

Matthew 18:21-35 The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold [b] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. [c] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Are we like this?

Verse 14
Of course, the foundation of all of these is love! 1 John 4:8 “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Verse 15
No matter what your situation is. Have peace in your heart. God is on our side, we must be on His. Trust that he has a plan for your life. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I havefor you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Be thankful that you have life and walk in His will.How will we know his will? By reading His word.

Verse 16
This says to me that we are to gather with other Christians to keep each other on track. This does not meant to not have Christian friends, but you should know who will hold you accountable of the things of God. It’s easy to be swayed, demoralized and desensitized by today’s culture. This is why it is important to fellowship with other Christ-minded people at church.

Verse 17
Self explanatory.
JESUS LOVES YOU! No matter what we’ve done, He loves us the same.He gave us His life, we should do the same.
So what are you going to do TODAY?