“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3
When my youngest child Luke was only three years old, he came into the kitchen asking for his absolute favorite, string cheese. His sweet, little brown eyes looked into mine as he asked, “Mommy, can I have string cheese?” I was disappointed to tell him we were all out, but to my surprise my sweet, little guy smiled sheepishly and said, “No, they are not all gone.” He opened the refrigerator door and slid his body to the very back corner of the fridge. To my surprise, Luke pulled out a piece of string cheese. He proceeded to triumphantly exclaim, “They are not all gone. I saved one for me!” I couldn’t help but smile. That is so cute, right?! How clever to hide it so well to make sure no else would eat it. Genius. In that moment, I realized the truth of the ages. My sweet, innocent 3 year old was looking out for himself. No one had to teach him that.
It is our sin nature to be selfish. What is not normal is not to be. So because it is normal, should we just excuse our sinful whims? We see the answer here, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:2-4
We can be free through the strength that comes through a close walk with Jesus Christ. “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16
If we are not careful, just spending 20 minutes on Facebook while not walking in the Spirit can reveal our “undead” self in the most alarming way. Before we know it, we can feel good about ourselves as we compare our parenting skills to some seemingly incompetent parent. If not walking in the Spirit we can quickly become envious because someone got something we didn’t; experienced a victory we hadn’t; went on the most amazing vacation ever (you know it is the best vacation ever because they said it was); feel like everyone’s life is perfect but ours; feel like we too must do something wonderful so we can post something. It’s a good thing you are not bragging like them though, right? Why do we struggle? Why do we struggle to, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” Romans 12:15 I know you know what I’m going to say; we are not dead.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you can feel the pride or anger form a little hard ball in the pit of your stomach because something has bothered you that badly? I know I have. If I don’t get honest with the Lord about it right away, it festers. On many occasions I have found myself needing to get very honest with the Lord. Some days it seems like I find myself needing to die every ten minutes or so!
Not only does pleasing ourselves come so naturally, because of our sin nature, society teaches us that we are deserving of whatever we want. You may hear people elude to the idea that they don’t deserve to be treated a certain way. I have heard church members talk about how something in a church doesn’t please them- not the Lord- just them. We must be willing to think differently about ourselves. If we want to have a Christlike spirit, He must increase; but we must decrease. I pray often, “Lord, let me just get out of Your way. Please don’t let people get tripped up by me. Let them simply see you.” “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3 So many times we simply don’t die to self just because it seems easier and safer to try please us. Let’s do it any way. Let’s say like the Apostle Paul, "I die daily.” Missionary Elisabeth Elliot said, “God will not protect you from anything that will make you more like Jesus.” Becoming more like Him feels a lot like dying inside. It’s funny how that works, but doing it brings true peace in this world.
