“But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,” (Colossians 3:8-10, NKJV)
Yesterday I admonished you from the words of my mother, “DON’T GO OUT HALF DRESSED.” I encouraged from the words of Paul to “Put on the Whole armor of God.” Today I want to go in the opposite direction and tell you to TAKE IT OFF.
Paul tells us in these verses that we who are children of God, through Jesus the Christ, are to take off those things that are from our old life before Christ. Those things that are not of the character of Christ we are to take off and put on the “new man” that identifies us as disciples of Jesus. Some years ago I would pray the prayer, “Lord, make me do right.” “Make me not sin.” I can remember very clearly early one morning praying this prayer and God convicted me by saying, “I am not going to make you do anything. You just have to stop doing it.”
There are things in all of our lives that we have to “take off.” They are not going to fall off and God is not going to “make us” stop doing them. Everything that is not like Christ in our lives must be dealt with by us individually. Search your life. If there is anything in your life that is not like Christ, TAKE IT OFF.
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