"Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts
to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God
will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked,
when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside:
anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge
according to the image of the One who created him-"
Colossians 3:5-10
I have been struggling with this exact thing...putting off the dead parts of myself. WHy is it that though I am alive, I still choose to live as though I am still dead? I think of what the apostle Paul wrote about his own struggle with the flesh and how he did what he did not want to do. There was a battle raging within him. I have become grossly aware of this battle within myself. My pride had kept me from seeing those things in the past. I had it all together. My life was in control. I lived a life that seemed to be inline with God. I was deceived, thinking I was ok and that I was right with God. It is amazing how we can weave such large webs of deception and believe such lies. The Lord has begun to lift the veil from my eyes and I am able to see my true self. My trust was not in The Lord. I had been trusting in the things of the world, my health, the people in my life, and our things. Unfortunately I think it is hard to see these things when we live in such a prosperous country. It is easy to place my faith in things other than God. It is also so easy to forget to be thankful in all things because of this.
A friend and sister in The Lord brought a song to my attention this week. It was powerful and the lyrics are amazing. It is filled with the truth of the power of God. I realized that I could benefit from an arsenal of music that I can listen to in times when I struggle to see the light. There are time when reading the Word feels impossible. My mind cannot focus and I wonder in my thoughts. Music has been a huge part of my life. It was given to us by God to praise Him, and there are so many wonderful songs out there that "Turn our eyes upon Jesus." In my search for songs I came across these lyrics by Meredith Andrews in her song, "Burn Away,"
"Burn away everything in me that breaks your heart.
Burn away everything that is not love.
Purify my every thought.
Take away everything that comes between us,
everything that is untrue.
Jesus make me more like you.
Make me holy, as you are holy.
Refine me in your fire, O God.
Make me holy, as you are holy.
In my life be glorified."
These words are powerful. They cut deep, but isn't this what The Lord is asking me to do? The harsh truth is that I can't do this on my own. I need His help and the power of the Spirit to work this in me. It goes back to my focus. Is my focus on The Lord and on things above, or is it on this earthly life and the things of the world? The truth is that the things in life that matter to me most are often not the things above or the things of God. I am so easily distracted by the world and by my own flesh. I have had many health issues in the past few years and these often become my focus. I fix my attention on the "thorn in my flesh" when I should be focused on The Lord. I pray that He strips me of those things and burns them away. I don't want to break His heart. I know that He is more than happy and able to do this work in me. Praise The Lord!!
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