Colossians 3:1-25

Our goal in life must be to life a life that is pleasing to God.  The source of true joy is living according to the manner that God has taught us in His Word.  God does not establish standards in order to spoil our fun but in order to preserve our lives and show us the path of true fulfillment and lasting joy.  This chapter outlines the means by which we can live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

SET OUR MINDS ON THE ETERNAL: It is so easy for us to focus on the passing pleasures of this planet and to forget the permanent promises that God has made for to us for all of eternity.  If we are going to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord, we must set our minds and affections on that which is eternal in heaven.  It is easy for us to become distracted because this world is so visible to us.  However, if we allow this to take place in our lives, we will inevitably experience sadness, disappointment and frustration.  God created us as eternal being in His image and the only way that we can find true joy is by living in light of God’s eternal promises.  We must set our minds on heaven.

SEPARATE OUR BODIES FROM THE SINFUL: The lust, selfishness and anger that are a part of our fallen state will always result in heartache and despair.  Christ has saved us from that life of death and calls us to separate our bodies from this sinful activity.  Our flesh leads us into a life of frustration but we do not need to live in this way.  Christ has opened to us a life that is abundant and rich, but in order for us to experience it we must learn to say no to the desires of our flesh.  God has called us to life of separation from the world and our sinful attitudes and actions.  The only way that we can be pleasing to Him and experience the joy that He has planned for us both in this life and the next is to run from sin.

STIR OUR HEARTS TO BE GRATEFUL: It is not enough to simply turn from sin, but a life that is pleasing to God will turn to obedience that stems from a transformed heart.  Our gratitude over what Christ has done will spur us on to be holy, gentle, forgiving and kind.  The love of Christ that we have experience should naturally overflow to the lives of those who are around us.  Obedience to Christ flows from a grateful heart for all that Christ has accomplished in obtaining our salvation from and forgiveness of sin.  The problem is that it is easy for us to forget the kindness and love of Christ and begin to take it for granted.  When that happens it becomes easy for us to be disobedient the God’s word, become depressed and be disrespectful to other people.  That is why we need to stir our hearts to remember the wonderful work of Christ for as we do that we will be stirring our hearts to become like Christ.

SERVE OUR FAMILIES AND BE FAITHFUL: God is pleased with us when we are pleasant to the people he has placed around us.  That starts with our family members and extends to the places where we work.  The secret of a Christian family is to recognize that we are here to serve one another.  Husbands, wives, children and parents all have different functions and responsibilities within the family, but as long as the appreciate one another and live to serve instead of always expecting to be served the home will be place harmony and joy.  As believes we are also called to be fair to those who work under us and be faithful to those who work over us.  The reality is that all of our work is for the Lord and should be accomplished for His honor and glory.  If we will live in this way God will be pleased with our lives and our live will be full of joy now and richly rewarded in that heaven on which we have set our minds and affections.