A Pattern To Live By

Colossians 3:5-17

No one likes to be caught wearing clothes that have a stain or spot on them.  Neither do we like to be caught in the wrong outfit. If it’s a formal occasion, we don’t like to be wearing something casual to somewhere a nice suit or dress would be more appropriate.  In any of these occasions we need to go and take off the wrong outfit, and put on a new one. Take off and put on. That is a theme for today’s Scripture passage from Paul’s letter to the Colossian church.

When each of us were saved, we all had some bad habits, behaviors, and activities that we were involved in that we needed to get rid of, and new behaviors and actions that we needed to start incorporating into our lives.  In our daily life Paul instructs us that we need to make a conscious, daily decision to remove anything that draws us to those actions and sins, and instead seek the Holy Spirit’s power. As believers we need to rid ourselves of these evil practices and immorality.  Just like we take off a dirty or inappropriate outfit, we need to rid ourselves of the old life, and put on the new way of living in Jesus Christ (vs. 5-10).

When Paul talks about “putting off”, he means to stop living like unbelievers.  Their thinking is ignorant and futile. Their hearts are hard and spiritually insensitive.  Their lives are given over to sensuality and self-indulgence, impurity and greed. “Putting on” means to live in accordance with the truth of the Gospel.  Take off the old, and put on the new, just like we change clothes every day. Our conduct and actions should match our faith.

So what does Paul instruct us to put on?  He wants us to put on the actions and character traits that the Lord Jesus showed while He was here on earth, the fruits of the Spirit.  He listed the old behaviors that we are to put off in verses 5-9. The new behaviors to put on Paul lists in verses 12-17.

The Apostle Paul gives us a pattern to live by in the last half of our Scripture.  We are to be compassionate and forgiving. We need to let love guide our lives, and let peace rule in our hearts.  A believer should be thankful. We need to live our lives as representatives of the Lord Jesus. To do this we have to keep God’s Word inside of us.

The “tender mercies” Paul speaks of in verse 12 is showing compassion to others.  That is when we think of others before we think of ourselves. It is achieved through a God-centered, God-focused life.  Paul speaks of having peace in our hearts in verse 15. Heavenly peace is a state of tranquility or quiet, no matter what trials or problems surround us.  God’s peace will remain despite the problems. We can rest in His promises. He also challenges us to forgive others who have hurt or wounded us (vs. 13). Christians are to forgive because Jesus forgave us.

Another character trait of Jesus that we are to put on is to be thankful (vs. 15).  That’s not too difficult when everything is going great, but often we quit being thankful when things are difficult in our lives.  Martin Rinkart was a German pastor during the 17th century. He was pastor during the Thirty Years War, and had to deal with the worst of conditions that a bloody and cruel war could dish out.  In 1636 alone, he buried 5,000 people from his area, and during that year and the next there was also a terrible plague. Of the four clergy in his area, one ran away and he buried the other two.  Yet in the midst of this time, Martin Rinkart wrote the great hymn “Now Thank We All Our God”. He never failed to be thankful to the Lord Jesus.

As believers we need to bring honor to Christ in every aspect and activity of our daily living.  We should represent Jesus wherever we go and with whatever we say. We are children of the King. Don’t throw off our royal robes to put on filthy rags, and go wallowing in the muck and mire of the world again!