Resistance, even unto death
I believe a necessary element of living by faith is the process of “putting to death” the pieces of who we are that are corrupted by our sin nature.
Paul put it this way, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.” Colossians 3:5-10
If we continue to walk in these we are destroying our witnesses and diminishing our effectiveness in Christ. We must leave all these things behind. (I read a friends facebook post that spoke of our active resistance to temptation) Put them to death in active resistance of Satan as James 4:7 states, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
If we have continued to walk in these, we must now turn in humble repentance to God and seek His mercy and pray that His wrath will not come upon us.
Father God, forgive me for not having put all these things to death in my life. Have mercy on me and forgive me and have compassion on me. Help me begin today to actively put these things to death and focus instead on You and Your ability to deliver me from my earthly way of thinking and doing. Give me the continual wisdom to follow Paul’s clear directive for winning this battle.
“If then you have been raised in Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
Our resistance is a battle of our mind. We must focus our mind on things that matter for eternity, like the kingdom of Christ and the will of God. When we lose our focus, we will fall into all sorts of temptation traps that will rob us of our witness and even destroy our lives.
In our focus on heavenly things we have some things we need to “put on” as we are “putting to death” our earthly way of living.
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all put on love which binds everything together in harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:12-17
Radical Ranting Patriot 