I leave you with Colossians 3 ESV
Put On the New Self
1. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 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. 14And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16Let 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. 17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Where did that come from? Conclusion
Posted by Anonymous at 10:24 PM
Labels: Christian Living
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Janice, I was also moved by Piper's sermon in a way similar to your response. It made me consider whether or not I should jettison various possessions. But in the end, we must be cautious. After all, our ambition to minimize our lives of luxury and comfort in and of itself can become its own idolatry. I think the key is to cultivate such an overpowering passion for Christ that we plead at the throne for comfort-shaking, routine-piercing transformation. If stuff gets in the way, scrap it. But it's deeper than that. For some of us, it may be pleading with Grace to cleave ourselves from such deeply rooted, self-absorption that we call it 'personality' rather than sin.
Thinking about this some more, maybe a reasonable set of criteria to assess whether or not our lives are seasoned with a radical passion to "meet Christ outside the camp" includes the following questions:
1. Am I placing myself in the path of great inconvenience for the sake of the church and the gospel?
2. Am I placing myself in the path of emotional distress or discomfort for the sake of the church and the gospel?
3. Am I joyfully exhausting myself physically, mentally, or emotionally for the sake of the church and the gospel?
4. Am I defying my fear of man for the sake of the church and the gospel?
5. Am I placing myself in the path of physical or emotional persecution for the sake of the church and the gospel?
This is not a perfect list, but if my answers are consistently 'no', then there's a strong possibility that my life is safe, orderly, predictable...comfortable - things that suffocate and kill a radical passion for Christ. Let's be in prayer for each other, that we would be willing to live our cross-centered lives 'without a net'. Thoughts?
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