#7 Where Am I Heading?
 

What Needs to Go?
 

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
(Colossians 3:5-6)
 

    Because of all the sin and wickedness mentioned in verse 5, the wrath of God is coming.
    We get a little mealy-mouthed about this aspect of Christian truth. It's true that God is a God of infinite love, grace, and mercy. It's also true he's a God of infinite holiness and purity. That means he must reward what is right and punish what is wrong.
    That means I need to identify those areas in my life that violates what I profess. If Christ is my life, how can I be dominated by anything else? How can he become peripheral? If Christ is my life, why do all kinds of opinions, movements, and trends make more of an impact on me than what Christ said? Why do they move me more than what Christ has promised?
    When I start thinking it through, I realize I need to apply and obey this truth. When I look carefully at verse 5, three words leap out: immorality, impurity, and idolatry. These must be dealt with by God's people, and the treatment must be radical. Put them to death.
    Some researches estimate that 50 percent of American women and 70 percent of American men commit adultery. We are an adulterous generation.
    God calls adultery sexual immorality, and he says it is totally incompatible with Christian profession. It is totally inappropriate, and if you are into it - and chances are that I am addressing people even at this moment who are sitting comfortably in an easy chair, planning to commit adultery before the next devotion - I warn you to cut it out! Put it to death! It is completely unacceptable.
    Why? Because Christ is your life, you are bound up with him, and you are planning to appear with him in glory. When he comes in glory, he will judge everyone who does these things.
    Impurity and idolatry are just as unacceptable as immorality. You say, "You= re not going to accuse us of idolatry now, are you? You don= t really think we've got little statues carved out of wood to which we bow down and offer bowls of rice?@
  No, I don't. Idolatry is much more than that. Whatever I am absorbed with, whatever demands most of my time, begins to rule my life. Anything that takes God's place in my life is an idol. "The dearest idol I have known, whatever that idol be, help me to tear it from thy throne, and worship only thee,@ says the old chorus.
  "If there is an adulterous relationship in your life,@ Paul would say, "stop it! If your life is becoming obsessed and absorbed by the inappropriate or the unacceptable, make some radical changes. Your life depends upon it!@
  "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory@ (Colossians 3:4). That is where your life is heading. That is what you have to look forward to.
    Make sure that when that day arrives, it will be a day of rejoicing and glad shouting, and not a day of shame and tears.
    What is it that absorbs most of your time and attention lately? Can you see any signs that this is ruling your life?
 

Meditations on Our Destination
 

1. Read through 1^st Corinthians 9:24-27, thinking about the similarities between the Christian life and athletics. What does this imply about how we ought to live? How do you respond to Paul's example in 2^nd Timothy 4:6-8?
2. Copy Hebrews 10:35-39 on an index card or a small piece of paper and put it up on your mirror or somewhere you will be able to look at it and think about it often. How can this encourage you to persevere?
3. Slowly read 2^nd Peter 3:3-15 aloud to yourself every morning for a week or two. How does this encourage us to be holy and godly?
 

~Stuart Briscoe~