WAYS
TO REDIRECT YOUR FOCUS 1: Devotion for Saturday July 30, 2016
Text:
Colossians 3:5 – 7 Memory verse: v 5
Yesterday, we read Paul’s call on us to
redirect our focus. Today and tomorrow, we shall be considering ways to
redirect our focus on things eternal instead of the things, worldly. Paul noted
that if the Colossian believers were to live as examples of Christ, they had to
put to death certain aspects of the sinful earthly things lurking within them,
the sinful nature; the old self. Two sets of sins are listed by Paul, which he
advised that they should put to death or mortify. The first five refer to
sexual sin; the second five are sins of speech/action. We’ll discuss that
tomorrow. These first five relates to the cultural background of the Colossians
and were particularly deadly to the life of the church: Sexual sin, impurity,
lust, shameful desires and greed for good things of life which he called
idolatry. These five sins mentioned here directly affect our spirituality and
they attract God’s anger too.
It is necessary to mortify sins, because if we
do not kill them, they will kill us. Although Paul told them in 3:3, that they
were dead to sin, yet here, in 3:5, he charged them to mortify sin; intimating,
that the work of mortification, at the best, is but imperfect, and must be
carried on daily basis and progressively. How can you mortify your body so that
you could be focused on Christ and heavenly things? Note that mortification is
not a thing of once and for all.
Food
for Thought:
What are the ways you can mortify sin in your life?
Prayer: Grant me the grace, O Lord, to put to death all sinful desire in me.
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