Paul the apostle told the
Colossian church members to seek and set their affection on things
above and not on things on the earth. His desire was to have them
looking toward eternal things rather than temporary. Jesus Christ was
going to appear, and they were promised to be with Him when He
appears in glory. Because of this, the Colossians were to “mortify”
the members of their bodies which were inclined to “fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
covetousness, which is idolatry:” In
chapter three and verse six of his letter to them, Paul tells the
church members how “the wrath of God”
comes upon those who make these as idols and disobey God with their
lives. We read:
For which things' sake
the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience:
The verse begins, “For
which things' sake the wrath of God...” Paul
began once again with the word “For”
which in this case means “by reason of, on account of or
because of”, and he included “which things sake” which
makes a reference to the members of the bodies of which he just
wrote. Paul tells the Colossians “the wrath” or the
“anger, temper, movement or agitation of the soul, impulse, desire,
violent emotion and indignation” “of God” is at hand
whenever these traits are present.
The
verse goes on to say, “...comes on the children of
disobedience:” Paul added,
“comes on” which
means “appears, arises, comes forth, shows itself, finds
place or influence, is established, and becomes known” “on the
children” who are “those whom God esteems as sons and
daughters, whom he loves, protects and benefits above others” “of
disobedience” or “those who are obstinate and in opposition
to the divine will of God”. Although these disobedient ones are
considered to be “children”, their obstinacy against the
will and ways of God the Father incites His wrath.
As we ponder Paul's words,
one thing is for sure, we do not want the “wrath of God”
to come upon us, so as we consider this idea, let us take inventory
once again of our own lives to be certain that none of those
“temporary and earthly” ways are within us. Jesus Christ will
once again “appear in glory”, and we should be seeking for
and having affection toward Him in the heavenly things. If however,
we should find ourselves with any of the traits within Paul's list,
let us turn from our ungodly ways and seek the Lord with all our
might. May the Lord not only give us the ability to see our faulty
paths and be “obedient children”, but also provide the strength
for Him to change us where we have need.
Next
time Paul refers to the way the Colossian church members used to be,
so
read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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