Colossians 2:6- As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. NKJV
Paul starts by saying that as we have received Christ the Lord, we are to walk in Him. What does that mean? I like how the Amplified version reads:
As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him.
Colossians 2:6 AMP
According to this version of the scriptures, our walk in the Lord is a regulation of our lives and conduct that agree with Him and adapt to Him. In other words, once we become Christians, although we are physically the same people, (though some of us change even outwardly), our lives ought to change.
Let’s stop and think about what it means to regulate our lives. Webster defines the term regulate as:
To adjust by rule, method or established mode; as, to regulate weights and measures; to regulate the assize of bread; to regulate our moral conduct by the laws of God and of society; to regulate our manners by the customary forms.
Webster Dictionary, 1828
I find it interesting that to regulate means to adjust. Many people who come into the church today believe that the gospel has to adjust to them. Because God is such a loving God, He made exceptions for them and their sin and they don’t have to adjust to Him or His laws. The church and other believers have to lovingly adjust to them if we are followers of Christ. That’s not how the scripture reads.
When we received the Lord Jesus, it was because at that moment in time we saw ourselves as He saw us, people in need of a Savior. People who understood that we were lost, perishing, without a way to make things better. So we called out to Him for salvation. And He delivered it! At that time, we were willing to do whatever needed to be done to receive Jesus and His salvation. That’s how we first received Him.
We also received Him by faith. I like how Paul described that moment in time:
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed…
Ephesians 1:13 NKJV
Paul said that we trusted in Him after we heard the word of truth! Truth and His goodness brought us to the altar of repentance where we first believed. So according to our text, we are to walk in the truth of the gospel that caused faith for salvation to rise in our souls! Pretty simple!
Then we are to adjust our lives to the truth of His holy word. Not what others think that looks like, for example (long dresses, no make-up, no fashion sense, or a somber personality)! Please!!
But there are some things that the word says that we need to adjust to. I’ll share only a few quick ones:
Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.
Ephesians 4:25 NKJV
Yes! If you lied to save yourself embarrassment or penalty of consequences, you are to adjust your lifestyle to that of an individual who now tells the truth. Will you slip? Probably! But if you trust it to the Savior and ask for His help, you will experience much more victory! The adjustment is worth it!
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
Ephesians 4:26 NKJV
How is that possible? Simple when your anger is righteous indignation! When you get angry about the things that God gets angry about. How do you keep from sinning? Pray! Take that anger to God and let Him show you His perspective, or what He wants you to do about a thing. I get angry when I see people living beneath their privilege in Christ. I don’t walk up to them and yell, “Hey! Don’t you know God has so much more for you? Just stop it already!” No! I go to God and pray for them asking Him is there something more that I am supposed to be doing? Sometimes it is yes, and sometimes I just pray and keep moving. Make adjustments!
Nor give place to the devil.
Ephesians 4:27 NKJV
Walking in the Lord means that you don’t give place to the devil! He was your master, but you now have a greater Master, Jesus! So there should not be a sense of obligation to yield to every negative thing that the devil throws at you! Adjust your life!
Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.
Ephesians 4:28 NKJV
This is what an adjustment looks like! If you were a thief, stop stealing! Go get a job and obtain your money and things in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord! Someone I know had her car stolen. It’s ridiculous to think that you work and get a car or anything, and some thief comes along and thinks they have a right to it! No! So stop being that person and adjust to the person Christ wants you to be!
Do not let unwholesome [foul, profane, worthless, vulgar] words ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good for building up others, according to the need and the occasion, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear [you speak].
Ephesians 4:29 AMP
I had to return to the Amplified to get some help! Unwholesome words that are foul, profane, worthless, or vulgar should not come out of your mouth. Maybe you had a potty mouth before you came to Jesus, but you have to adjust to having a clean mouth. Your speech has to be for building up others and blessing people, not that other stuff you used to do! Adjust, adjust, adjust! We all have to!
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [but seek to please Him], by whom you were sealed and marked [branded as God’s own] for the day of redemption [the final deliverance from the consequences of sin].
Ephesians 4:30 AMP
Here’s a beautiful picture of regulating our lives in Him. We seek to please Him and not to cause Him grief! Whatever we had in our old lives that caused us to see our need for the Savior was as displeasing to Him then as they are now! You cannot continue to live life as you have always lived it! There should be a change. A notable change! A “people looking at you like you are strange” change! How about a change that makes your “old friends run from you” change! Adjustment is a must! For all of us! Seeking to please Him brings about an undeniable change!
This was not my original intent for the blog tonight but since it is flowing, I’ll flow with it!
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence]
Ephesians 4:31
We have to regulate our lives according to His word. We can’t say we act a certain way because of our age! We can’t fall back on our background or personality or anything else as a valid reason for ungodly behaviors and attitudes. We have to adjust to the One who has saved us and delivered us. It’s a lifetime of adjusting. It doesn’t always happen overnight, although the miraculous does occur. Mostly, and honestly, we get up every single day (it seems) deciding to adjust our lives and attitudes to His life and attitude.
Wonderful Jesus!
Wonderful Jesus! 