Series: Jesus Manifesto
Message: Getting Dressed for Abundant Living
Preacher: J. Murdock
Reflection: Japhet De Oliveira
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Beyond: J. Murdock
Live Purpose: Lydia Svoboda
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Colossians 3:5-17 in the New Living Translation (NLT). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: The NLT translation today added a little nuance to the opening sentence of Verse 15 that made me laugh a little. Maybe you noticed it as well—the word “lurking.” Perhaps you preferred it to the more dry approach of the ESV we read yesterday. For me the translation today seemed extra dramatic. I understand, of course, what the translators were attempting to do. We are asleep to the effects and practices of our bad habits. Not everything on this earth is evil, but there are some things we clearly need not to engage with. We would do well to intentionally remove these things from our lives. Who are we kidding here—bad habits are hard to break. We all have different methods for changing our lives, for “putting to death the things that are lurking,” but they just keep on coming back. Is there no end to this struggle?
I walked into the office of a nutritionist last week. Why did I even agree to the appointment in the first place? It must have been a weak moment in my day, I told her as I sat in the office, looking at all the plastic toy foods on the table. If I were interested in playing, it looked like the perfect pretend corner shop for a three-year-old. Quite seriously, having to think about food knocks the wind out of my sails if I dwell on it. It has been a problem my entire life, one that takes too much energy to focus on. I don’t want to count. I don’t want to cook. I don’t want to spend more than two seconds wondering if the item in front of me contains the right balance of carbohydrates and protein. For some reason, drawing any of my emotional or mental energy towards food management seems like the most horrendous task. I would rather work a twenty-hour day than give it a second thought. Eating wrong is a horrible, horrible, horrible habit that appears impossible to break. I am so impressed by those who can eat 2–3 cashew nuts and use environmentally friendly olive oil dispensing sprays for cooking their food. Those who use measuring cups for their slow-cooked oatmeal, and eat just five kernels of popcorn at a time. I am envious of those who have metabolisms that allow them to eat nearly the same amount of food as I do and remain so thin they risk falling through the drains on the sidewalks.
Paul understands, based on his long list of problem areas, that we all have struggles with things that are not good for us. What he would like us to do is to turn to Jesus for help. On our own, it is impossible to change a habit.
Recalibrate: Which of the habits listed in Verses 5-9 do you struggle with? Which ones have you ever talked to Jesus about?
Respond: Ask Jesus for help with your habits.
Research: Read Bad Habits & Addictions (What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do) by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend.
Remember: “Do not lie to each other. You have left your old sinful life and the things you did before” (Colossians 3:9, ICB).
Japhet De Oliveira is administrative director for the Center for Mission and Culture at Adventist Health in Roseville, California.
Make a game of sorting through your child’s clothes with them. There are always clothes our granddaughter is growing out of—yours might be the same! Go through one drawer at a time keeping what fits and putting to the side what does not. So often there is nothing wrong with the clothes we have grown out of. We can sell or donate them or keep them for the next sibling. In Colossians 3:5, Paul talks about killing off everything connected with the way of death. Imagine that death is a brand of clothing that is in your wardrobe. This kind of clothing is not a hand-me-down we want our children to inherit. The best thing is that Jesus will help us spring clean our lives, working with us on the best makeover designed in love. All you have to do is ask Him and follow His lead.
Watch the story of David and Goliath. In the middle of this story King Saul tries to make David wear his armor. It was way too big for David! David believed that God was his armor. God had taken care of David while David was taking care of the sheep. God loves us so much. When we choose to love God back, His love lives in our hearts and protects us from the inside out. We don’t need anybody else’s armor, even the armor of a king. Choose to wear love—it’s the armor from God that will always fit while you wear it in your heart.
I remember the feeling I had the first time I did something I knew I definitely wasn’t supposed to do. In that moment, right before I did it, my entire body felt like it was charged with electricity as a million thoughts ran through my head. I had to choose whether to go through with it or walk away. And my body seemed to be frozen in time as my brain fought with itself to decide which direction I should go. But once I made the choice to break the rules and go against what I was taught, it became easier to break the rules the next time. And that feeling of being paralyzed with fear went with it, never to return. It was as if that part of me left and I wasn’t trapped behind the fence with no idea what was on the other side.
I could argue it’s a good thing I no longer feel so awful when I break the rules. But I could just as easily argue it’s a bad thing I no longer feel guilty when I do something I know I shouldn’t. Because the thing is, just because it becomes easier, doesn’t mean it still isn’t a bad thing!
Paul talks about this idea in Colossians 3:7 when he reminds the people that the ways they used to follow still exist in the backs of their minds, and all they need to do to return to the path of righteousness is return the way they came. They know the way because they just walked it as they left the place where breaking the rules was still a problem. Sure, it’s tough returning to a place you thought you were leaving forever, but in the end it’s a good thing to be in a place where it still matters what you do and why. Even if it means feeling a little bit more electricity in your body when you get close to a place of discomfort. In the end, it means you’re probably staying closer to the goodness of God and away from everything that isn’t Him.
“But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:8-10). To look like your Creator means that you look more like love. To be rid of anger, malice, and rage means to act by the fruits of the Spirit. So ask of Him, and He will give you of His fruits.
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
J. Murdock is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church in Boulder, Colorado, where he focuses on youth and young adult ministry.
Lydia Svoboda is a junior theology major at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.