"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." (Col. 3:1-5).
This week Martin sheen made the following statement about his son Charlie Sheen’s battle with drug addiction: "If he had cancer, how would you treat him? This disease of addiction is a form of cancer." Charlie Sheen has also been labeled a sex addict. What some call the disease of addiction the bible calls sexual immorality, evil desires and idolatry. What some call an incurable sickness that requires life time treatment, the bible calls sins of the flesh that can be put to death by the power of the resurrected Christ.
The Apostle Paul writes, "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above...“ Before a person is saved he is dead in sin (Eph. 2:1-8). To be dead in sin means to be separated from God. But when we are made alive unto God--when we are born again the Spirit of God takes up residence in our bodies and we are reconciled unto God (; Romans 6:11; Col. 1:21; 1 Cor. 6:15-20). When one in saved something begins to happen on the inside that increases our awareness of who God is and our affections for Him. Therefore Paul follows his words "If ye be risen with Christ" with "seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds (affections) on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." The more we seek and set our minds on who Jesus is and who we are in Him the more our affection for Jesus will increase and the more our affections for earthly things will decrease. We can seek and set are minds on things above and not on things of earth because as Paul says, "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). We can set our minds (affections) on things above and not on things of earth because we are dead (set free from the dominion of sin). And because we've been set free from the power of sin in our position in Christ, Paul goes on to write in Col. 3:5, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." Because of our position in Christ we can daily mortify or put to death all our sinful thoughts, deeds and actions.
What does it mean to put to death your members as stated in the KJV? Paul sheds more light on this in Romans 8:13 where he writes, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Paul is not saying to literally kill our physical bodies but those evil deeds that are carried out by the body. All those deeds begin with thoughts that produce the wrong desires and deeds which are carried out by the body or its members, (eyes hands feet, mouth etc). How do we put to death the deeds and desires of our bodies through the Spirit. We must yield to and depend on the Spirit of God to put to death what will otherwise kill us. How does the Spirit work in us to put to death the deeds of the body? One way that he does is by creating in us new desires and new affections as we seek and set are minds on things above. The Puritan Thomas Chalmers wrote, “The only way to dispossess (The heart) of an old affection, is by the expulsive power of a new one” (Gal. 5:16-17). Deep idols must be pushed out by deeper worship. This is nothing short of a miracle and is only possible by the work of the Holy Spirit in the Heart of a Christian” (Rom. 8:13; Hebrews 11:24-26). Seek and set your minds on things above, put to death the evil deeds of the body and be free in Jesus.
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