Act Your Standing!

 If you are looking for the posts about

God's Amazing Blessing

Announcement—I'm moving!

here's the link to the first Part: 

http://createapositiveday.blogspot.com/2015/05/announcement-part-1-im-moving.html

Then follow the arrows at the bottom of each post to the next Part.

There are 10 parts in all. 

I recommend that you read each part, there are amazing details—and

God took care of each and every one! 

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 This post is the continuation of my Study of Colossians. 

If then you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1 (AMP) 

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Colossians 3:1 (MSG)

"Act your age!" A phrase said by one who is usually embarrassed by the actions of another. Paul is telling the believers to "Act your standing!" Meaning your standing in Christ. Christ died and rose again for pay for your sins. By accepting Him as Lord and Savior, you now have a responsibility to act like a child of God. So, "Act your standing!" 

It is our privilege that we have risen with Christ; that is, have benefit by the resurrection of Christ, and by virtue of our union and communion with him are justified and sanctified, and shall be glorified. Hence he infers that we must seek those things which are above.

And the reason is because Christ sits at the right hand of God. He who is our best friend and our head is advanced to the highest dignity and honour in heaven, and has gone before to secure to us the heavenly happiness; and therefore we should seek and secure what he has purchased at so vast an expense, and is taking so much care about. We must live such a life as Christ lived here on earth and lives now in heaven, according to our capacities. Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete)

Act your standing! In order to act as a child of God my heart must be permeated with a deep sense of reverence for God (Acts 9:31; MSG).

Outward Appearance—Hollow

If you are looking for the posts about

God's Amazing Blessing

Announcement—I'm moving!

here's the link to the first Part: 

http://createapositiveday.blogspot.com/2015/05/announcement-part-1-im-moving.html

Then follow the arrows at the bottom of each post to the next Part.

There are 10 parts in all. 

I recommend that you read each part, there are amazing details—and

God took care of each and every one! 

_______________________________________________

 This post is the continuation of my Study of Colossians. 

If then you have died with Christ to material ways of looking at things and have escaped from the world’s crude andelemental notions and teachings of externalism, why do you live as if you still belong to the world? [Why do you submit to rules and regulations?—such as]

Do not handle [this], Do not taste [that], Do not even touch [them],

Referring to things all of which perish with being used. To do this is to follow human precepts and doctrines.

Such [practices] have indeed the outward appearance [that popularly passes] for wisdom, in promoting self-imposed rigor of devotion and delight in self-humiliation and severity of discipline of the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh (the lower nature). [Instead, they do not honor God but serve only to indulge the flesh.]  Colossians 2:20-23 (AMP)

"Such [practices] have indeed the outward appearance [that popularly passes] for wisdom"

If only there was a check list so that I'd know how to live a godly, God-fearing life. That would make it so much easier. But just because I can check off that I do or don't do certain things, that doesn't mean that I'm honoring God. 

Outward appearance of wisdom. But what's on the inward? That is what really matters. What is the motive? And those "check lists" can even turn into idols, as I put more importance on "The List" rather than WHY I am doing, or not doing those things. 

Outward appearance of wisdom, but hollow on the inside. Hollow. No substance. Reminds me of the hollow chocolate bunnies at Easter. Oh, I hated getting the hollow ones. I liked the SOLID bunnies. 

What is the motive behind what I do? Why do I choose or choose not to do certain things? God does list some specifics things which I am to NOT do. 

These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him:

A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil,

A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19 (AMP)

But as I live my life, I am to honor God, not live with just the outward appearance of wisdom. I need to fear God as I live my life. 

If I want to live a life that is not just an outward appearance of wisdom, and hollow on the inside—I must be permeated with a deep sense of reverence for God (Acts 9:31; MSG).

God's Amazing Blessing!

If you are looking for the posts about

God's Amazing Blessing

Announcement—I'm moving!

here's the link to the first Part: 

http://createapositiveday.blogspot.com/2015/05/announcement-part-1-im-moving.html

Then follow the arrows at the bottom of each post to the next Part.

There are 10 parts in all. 

I recommend that you read each part,

there are amazing details—and

God took care of each and every one! 

Detached from the Very Head that Nourishes

If you are looking for the posts about

God's Amazing Blessing

Announcement—I'm moving!

here's the link to the first Part: 

http://createapositiveday.blogspot.com/2015/05/announcement-part-1-im-moving.html

Then follow the arrows at the bottom of each post to the next Part.

There are 10 parts in all. 

_______________________________________________

 This post is the continuation of my Study of Colossians. 

Let no one defraud you by acting as an umpire and declaring you unworthy and disqualifying you for the prize, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions [he claims] he has seen, vainly puffed up by his sensuous notions and inflated by his unspiritual thoughts and fleshly conceit,

And not holding fast to the Head, from Whom the entire body, supplied and knit together by means of its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. Colossians 2:18, 19 (AMP)

I really like how these verses are translated in the VOICE. 

Don’t be cheated out of the prize by others who are peddling the worship of heavenly beings and false humility. People like this run about telling whoever will listen what they claim to have seen; but in reality they testify only to an inflated mind, saturated in conceit—not in the Spirit.

They are detached from the very head that nourishes and connects the whole body with all of its nerves and ligaments, a body that grows by the kind of growth that can only come from God. Colossians 2:18, 19 (VOICE)

"They are detached from the very head that nourishes and connects the whole body.."

We like to hear "feel good" stories. But sadly, often those stories are based on lies, rather than the Truth from God. Satan often uses feel good, or sounds good, or even partial truths to hinder us from living the full Truth. 

Anyone who focuses on something other than God and His Truth, is "detached from the very head that nourishes". And so often the junk food they are sharing is just that... junk. True nourishment comes only from God and His Word. 

"Detached from the very head that nourishes". What a picture that creates. One can't live long when the body is detached from the head. And the same is true for Christians. Without Christ, and His Word.... well it goes back the Col 2:12-14—Living Like Road-Kill. 

To remain ATTACHED to the Head (Christ) I must continue to study God's Word so that my heart and soul can be permeated with a deep sense of reverence for God (Acts 9:31; MSG).

Major on the Minors

If you are looking for the posts about

God's Amazing Blessing

Announcement—I'm moving!

here's the link to the first Part: 

http://createapositiveday.blogspot.com/2015/05/announcement-part-1-im-moving.html

Then follow the arrows at the bottom of each post to the next Part.

There are 10 parts in all. 

_______________________________________________

 This post is the continuation of my Study of Colossians. 

[God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross].

Therefore let no one sit in judgment on you in matters of food and drink, or with regard to a feast day or a New Moon or a Sabbath.

Such [things] are only the shadow of things that are to come, and they have only a symbolic value. But the reality (the substance, the solid fact of what is foreshadowed, the body of it) belongs to Christ. Colossians 2:15-17 (AMP)

Major on the Minors. 

So often believers start quarrels by majoring on the minors. Paul is talking here to Jewish believers and Gentile believers. There was a difference in their up bring. The Jews followed the strict rules given in the Old Testament. The Gentiles were believers after Christ died and are under grace. The Jews who accepted Christ as Messiah, now are under grace too. But the traditions of keeping the laws were hard to break. 

Paul is reminding the believers that there was a time for all the laws of the Old Testament. It set the Jews apart as God's chosen people. Now, because of God's sacrifice of His Son, grace and mercy are available to all. 

Major on the Minors. I too find myself majoring on the minors. Does it matter is they _________ (fill in the blank)? So often is does not really matter. 

What does matter is the relationship with Almighty God! And living a life in accordance with His Word. The MAJOR that we should focus on is avoid the things that God calls SIN, and living a life honor God. When the focus is on God and that I belong to Him, the minors take care of themselves. 

Major on the Minors? Or Major on the Important? If I want to focus and major on the important, that can only happen when I'm permeated with a deep sense of reverence for God (Acts 9:31; MSG).