The only remedy for sinful passions is found in the believers’ experience of union with Christ.” (Vaughan)

Because we were raised with Christ, we find freedom when seek to live as He did.

As we seek those things which are above (Col 3:2) we experience peace, hope and joy.

Before Jesus, I was dead in my sin, but when I died to my sin, because of the blood of Jesus, I became fully alive. Truly alive, more alive than ever.

As I follow Him in obedience and seek to bring honor and glory to Him, rather than myself, I find abiding peace and inexplicable joy.

Though I’m already a citizen of Heaven, I still live in this world and still feel the pull of sin and flesh.

But we don’t have to give in to those things!!

Paul tells us in chapter 3 of Colossians to deliberately put off some things and put on some other things.

We are die to self and live for Christ (Col 3:3) and when we do this, God works in and through us.

And as I shared a short while back, those who daily die to self are warriors, stealth soldiers in a Kingdom that is powerfully advancing.

They daily die to themselves and their desires and their needs…but it is right there that they truly live.

And make no mistake, with them, God is bringing amazing light into the darkest of darkness and setting captives free.

Those, often suffering, soldier saints don’t just cognitively believe in the crucifixion, they have, themselves, been crucified with Christ.

They no longer live for the emptiness of temporary worldly, satisfaction…. they’ve answered a higher, better calling to an eternal purpose.

I’m not just talking about pastors, missionaries and the like. I’m talking about ordinary people you know, some of you who are reading this right now—people who serve day in and day out the cause of Christ.

They do things like endure the hard marriages, they care for the elderly parent, they patiently raise the child with special needs who will never leave home.

They love the prodigal. They serve the homeless and pick up the broken and addicted. They study the Word and preach in the small churches and the hard places. They care for the orphans and seek out the lonely. They love the hard to love.

Like their Savior, they daily deny themselves—their comfort, their dreams, their finances for a greater good and higher cause.

Yes, they’ve been hurt, knocked down, scarred and disappointed in the battle; but their eye remains steadily on the eternal, better prize.

But each of them will tell you their strength is not their own. Human love would have walked away long ago. Jesus is the source of their strength and their love.

Over and over, they place their hope in the One True King who will right all the wrongs, heal all the wounds and make all things new.

And as they quietly do the hard things and patiently serve, a lost world sees Jesus in them.

One by one, dying people catch a glimpse of what it means to truly live.

And disciples make disciples …and the Kingdom of God advances….One person, one decision, one day at a time.

Oh friend, oh soldier, be encouraged! Encourage others to keep on keeping on! God is at work in you and through you!

He sees you!

And one day… our eyes will behold His glory! Our faith will become sight! Victory belongs to our Lord!!

What a Savior!!!

readColossians

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