Monday after the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 24, 2022 by under
Scripture: Colossians 3:1-10 (NKJV)
3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.
Devotion
“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Notice that the apostle Paul gives the Colossians an understanding of their sanctification by pointing first to their justification. If you have died and have been raised with Christ in Baptism, then you will have a new heart and new desires. The great joy of every Christian is to appropriate more of Christ in their life; to “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”
This process of sanctification always comes back to Christ. The Colossians are reminded that they did not save themselves from the sin “in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.” Likewise, our sanctification is of God. The power of the Holy Ghost gives us the gift to “put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him…”
Even when we sin and fall short, we look back to Christ and set our mind towards Him for our continued growth.
Prayer: O Almighty and most Merciful God, of Thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech Thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready, both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that Thou wouldest have done; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
