A Cleansed Life

Chuckle: Kid's Lyrics: "God bless America, through the night with a light from a bulb!"

Quote: "Choose Jesus Christ! Deny yourself, take up the 'Cross, and follow Him for the world must be shown. The world must see, in us, a discernible, visible, startling difference." --Elisabeth Elliott

A CLEANSED LIFE

    You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. . . Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:7-8, 12 NIV).

I'm often amazed by the open display of anger and rage in our society. Sadly, Christians are not immune to these types of sins, and we can see by our Scripture passage that such actions are not unique to our time. Out of control anger can cause people to do horrible things to one another. Anger and jealousy caused Cain to kill his brother Abel (Genesis 4). Uncontrolled anger causes parents to abuse their children. Anger causes husbands and wives to mistreat one another and destroys marriages. Anger results in the sinful actions listed in our passage -- and all sorts of abhorrent behaviors.

When we are born again in Christ, we are cleansed of our sins and become God's new creations (2 Cor. 5:17). The Holy Spirit takes up residence in our lives and gives us the strength we need to avoid the terrible results of anger, rage, etc. However, when we allow selfishness, greed, and self-centeredness to creep into our lives, we are headed for disaster. Here, Paul is urging believers to remain true to our faith, and rid ourselves of our old lives and clothe ourselves in our God-given new nature in Christ.

Do you sometimes catch yourself telling a lie or half-truth to get what you want or to hurt someone toward whom you have hard feelings? Have you gossiped or slandered someone's character out of anger? Every Christian is in a life-long work in progress and the more we come to know Christ, the more we are being changed to be like Him. Simply stated, clothing yourself with a brand new nature means that your conduct should match your faith. We should act like people of God. This is a straightforward step that is as simple as putting on your clothes each day. Clothe yourself in the righteousness of Christ and live in the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you find yourself drifting into the sins mentioned in our passage, please remember that God is a God of forgiveness and cleansing. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify (cleanse) us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9 NIV).

Karl Menninger, the famous psychiatrist, says that if he could convince the patients in his psychiatric hospitals that their sins are forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day. So often we do not take God at his word that our lives can be cleansed and our sins forgiven -- wiped away forever. Let God cleanse your life and then clothe yourself with Christ-likeness, including compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

 Love, Jerry & Dotse