Colossians 3:12-25 - 4:1 (Part 2)
Before I get into the Christian ethic
that Paul describes here, I think it necessary to first detail a concept: The concept of the spiritual life (Col 3:1).
Life in the Spirit begins with
self-denial and then is maintained by the Holy Spirit.
First, self-denial comes at the point
of us accepting ourselves as sinful beings that will die someday and meet God
face to face. When we recognize that
only the death of Jesus on the Cross (Galatians 6:14) fixes this sinfulness we give
our lives to Him with a relieved gratitude.
This self-denial is the basis of the Christian life. Anyone who has submitted to God and asked the
Lord Jesus Christ to save them understands that it is a most humbling
experience which affects them deeply and for the rest of their lives.
Second, once we have gone through this
self-denial our lives as we knew them (worldly) are considered dead and now we
live our lives as Christians (spiritual).
This is the life of the Spirit. The
Holy Spirit is the connection between this physical world and the spiritual world
of God’s Presence.
The scriptures tell me that when I went
through the process of becoming a Christian (self-denial) that I spiritually
died and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26) was given me (think born again). The Bible states that I have become (and am now)
a new creation, that the old has gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). I learn that this life I live is not my own
but it is Christ who lives through me (Galatians 2:20) by His Holy Spirit. It is this Spirit that links my physical
worldly life directly to the spiritual Presence of God. This spiritual link is constant, every day,
and for the rest of my life. The Holy
Spirit is quite literally the one and only sacramental grace that I need.
And so now, the Life of the Spirit is
not a set of do’s and don’ts but about a very real and mysterious connection
between the physical world in which I live and the spiritual world in which I
will someday live with God. When we Christians
are instructed to live our earthly lives as spiritual beings it is because we
have a new otherworldly spiritual outlook upon this physical world. We have an outlook that is seen through the
eyes of the Holy Spirit of God.
I know this is a bit of a rabbit-trail
today but read the whole of chapter 2 paying special attention to verses
9-12. And seriously, I cannot emphasize
the part about self-denial enough. If
you have never had a time where you have submitted the very essence of your earthly
life to Jesus Christ then you need to because the readings won’t make any spiritual
sense otherwise.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+3%3A22-4%3A1&version=NIV
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