Colossians 3:5-6

Colossians 3:5-6, 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. Last week I said that when we read the bible you should not open your heart to only the things that you like and close it to the words you do not like. Depending on our moods we either accept the words of someone or let them burden us. Are we not like this? We are all sinners before God. You can think of yourself this way or you can think that you are righteous before God. How do you see yourself? It is said that the one who thinks highly of themselves are the easiest to fool. The one who think that they are the smartest are easily taken advantage of. These are sayings of people who are not believers. We have the word of God that tells us these things but we refuse to listen. We don't listen to God or even the teachings of others. So who are you living your life after? Where are you going? What are you doing? We think that people are attacking us and we don't have the heart of humility to listen to the words that are spoken to us. We are told to love others as ourselves. We are told that the entrei law is summed up in love. If I truly love God can I withold my tithe offering? If I realize what God has done for me I should be willing to give everything to God, but rather we demand that God gives us more. The perspective is wrong. We should be giving thanks and not asking for more. If you are reading the bible with you as the focus then you are not seeing things properly. When we judge rather than love it is because we see with our eyes and not the heart of God. Do you further yourself from the temptations of this world, or do you do what you want to do first and then seek God after? Is God who you seek first, do you make time to worship Him, or do you seek Him when you have time left from having done everything else that you desired to do? 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. You may think that you do not do any of these so you may think that you are fine, but what about greed? Greed is not only the desire for more, but it is the lack of contentment. If you lack gratitude then you a greedy. Rather than thanking God for allowing us to have work, even though we may not have benefit that day, you complain that you did not get what you wanted. You have no gratitude in difficult times, even though you say that God is sovereign. Rather than looking at yourself you grumble to God. Rather than getting closer to Him, you start to calculate the cost of what you need and refuse to humble yourself before Him. You know that you must sacrifice all to follow Him, but you refuse to do so. You only want more from Him, without sacrificing anything. When I was married, my wife told me never to put my hands in my pockets or things into them. The reason is when you hands start to go into your pockets you start to slouch and your posture suffers. The more you put things into them, the more you hands go into them. Clothes that you care for last much longer and are more presentable. My wife told me many times, not for her sake, but for me. So that I may be more presentable to others. I was also told by an uncle to never cross my arms. He told me that it gives others bad impression to others of weakness and separation. I was also told once, as I was using a toothpick, to never leave it in the mouth, because others will find it dirty and wil be repelled by it. All three examples are of me, when I did not think that others were looking at me. I only thought of my comfort, but others are judging me and I am leaving an impression on them. If you are young, then start making the changes, so that you may be presentable to others and others may see you at your best. It will not be easy and it may bring you much struggle, but commit to making the changes so that you will reap the rewards. Abraham Lincoln before he became president recieved a letter from young girl who had suggested that to her, she felt that if he were to grow a beard, he would give a better impression because he was thin and did not leave an impression warmth to her. He took her advice and changed his image. We know what happened to him after. If a king leaves his palace without his clothes who would know that he was a king? Not many. If you are a Christian, how will people know that you are? Have you put on the clothes of Christ? Are you living the life that follows him? Peter says that the one who does what he reads is the one who is blessed. You cannot expect God to bless you when you are not following what He tells you to do. Refusing to change is pride. It is because of this that you will recieve the wrath of God's judgement. God will bless you to the degree that you do. That is His way. You can pretend that you are a Christian but if you keep refusing to do what God tells us, then you will recieve punishment and not receive the gift of eternal life. If you fail to realize that you are being punished in order to be blessed then you will never enter into His blessing. We must rid ourselves of laziness, judging, giving up, and the thoughts that God will bless us even though we do nothing. Everything that is not right must be thrown away. God will discipline you and break you until to agree right with Him because He desires that you recieve His blessings. You must change all that is keeping you from receiving God's blessing. Compare your life to the words of the bible and see what it is that is keeping you from receiving the blessings of God and make the decision and commit to doing the things that will allow you to be blessed by God.