WHAT WE MUST DO

Col. 3:5a So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you.

Notice, we have a responsibility to put out the life of sin in us. We have to do our part if we are going to live in victory. God does not take away from us our desires. We still tend to want to sin and we must gain control over those desires. We must stand up to temptation and say no to it. We must resist the urge to pursue the things on earth that draw us away from God.

In order for us to be strong enough to put to death our sinful desires, we must take control over what we do in life. We must be students of God’s Word, which means we become more than casual readers of it. We must read the Word with a need and desire to learn its hidden treasures. We must be disciplined enough to spend daily time in it. We must be willing to listen to what it says and seek to apply it to our living. The more we study the Word, the stronger our faith becomes.

We must also put into practice what we learn. Knowledge alone does the soul no good. We must keep striving to develop the kind of life God says we should be living. Becoming holy in practice should always be our goal.

Strength of faith is found on our knees. We must discipline ourselves to be a people of prayer. It takes more than a casual thought to be a people of prayer. We need to discipline ourselves to wait before the Lord, spending quality time with Him on a consistent basis. Sunday morning prayer time in church is not going to cut it. Daily we need to spend time alone with the Lord, sitting at His feet, waiting before Him.

It is the strong in faith who will be able to put to death the sinful, earthly things that attract us and lure us away from God.