Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
If you have ever had a rough morning, at some point you have to drop everything and say, from this point on, I am going to be positive. Sometimes it even works. Our past is an essential component of our testimony but there is a danger of still dwelling on our past sins as our identity instead of dwelling in the mercy of Jesus Christ. Notice where Paul would have the Colossians be rooted, built up, and established. It is in Jesus Christ. At the moment they received Christ, it was a new beginning, they were born again, they were a new creation. The old was gone. The new had come. Therefore, Paul said to the Colossians as well as the Corinthians earlier, therefore walk like a new creation, not an old one.
I sometimes walk like an old man, both literally due to Transverse Myelitis, and spiritually, falling back into the despair of my old self. I suspect that may be true of many of us this morning. We know the gospel of grace but we can’t fathom Jesus forgiving our sins we committed at our worst. That is exactly where Jesus wants us. The moment we start looking at ourselves as if we have arrived, we have begun the walk out of his will. The sooner we shed the old skin and put on the new, the better and newer we will be.
Dear Lord, thank you that you make everything new when you save us. Help us to get out from under our past and enjoy your future. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church