And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:13–23)In learning what it means to walk in the Spirit and not the flesh, I’ve found this is not about outward actions as much as inward motivations. Am I listening to God and doing what He commands, or am I doing what I do for personal reasons?
At my age, I’m aware that if I don’t eat right and exercise, my body will suffer. So do I eat right and exercise to avoid suffering? Or to avoid problems that will keep me from serving the Lord?
I make quilts to give to needy people. Does the desire to show off the design skills God gave me motivate my sewing sessions, or am a motivated by a love for those who suffer from various things, including a lack of love?
Am I polite to telemarketers just to be nice, or to show compassion to a caller who may be in a slave situation and making the same calls over and over because they cannot escape?
Closer to home, do I help my hubby with his computer woes because I love him, or to stop his complaining so I can get on with my own work?
The Bible often uses extremes and outward behaviors to identify the flesh:
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (Colossians 3:5–10)Yet I know that all of these begin inside my head if I walk in the flesh. Most of them might never show up in actions, but God wants a pure heart. How much easier to walk in the Spirit who gives these attitudes than to fake it with “right” actions:
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12–15)The rest of this reading says I’m to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” for such thinking and the results are from His thoughts, not the selfishness of my flesh.
Lord, sometimes I put on the right behavior, but having it flow from Your Spirit which motivates all parts of me is what You really want. Not that I have arrived, but I’m so thankful that You have shown me the difference as You persist in changing my heart. I will keep pressing on and looking forward to being like You when I see You face to face.