Colossians 3

The Message begins this chapter with a heading: He Is Your Life.

I'm reminded of Jairus, leader of the synagogue, as portrayed in The Miracle Maker. He is shown as wrestling with whether he should ask Jesus, this new, radical rabbi, to pray for his dying daughter, in the face of opposition from the Jewish leaders.

Jairus only desires to serve God and be obedient to him, saying in frustration: "GOD is my life."
Don't you want GOD to BE YOUR life? Nothing else?

Colossians 3 says, in a nutshell (my misshapen paraphrase, more nutty perhaps than is sensible...):

So be serious about living the Christ life, the Christ-ian life. Focus on Jesus, on heaven - not on earth. Because your old life is dead and gone, your NEW life, your REAL life, is with Jesus. Being famous or important isn't what it's all about.

What's important is not to give in to our unpleasant side: the selfishness, loose, self-indulgent living, problems of anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language caused by our tongues. We did that before we knew better: now we do.

Nor should we lie to one another: we've finished with all that. instead, we should imagine that we are dressed in all kinds of good characteristics: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline, forgiveness and, best of all, love.

We should focus on the peace which Jesus gives, thankfully, to keep us all together and keep on encouraging one another in the right way to live. Wives should be understanding and supportive of their husbands, who in their turn will be completely loving towards their wives.  Children should respect and obey their parents who will be wise in their dealings with them. And anyone in any kind of inferior position should just do their best: just as if they were working for Jesus.

My summing up sentence: I'm living for God now, not for myself. God IS my life.

Amen to that.

Reflecting on Colossians after our study with Good Morning Girls.