Friday, April 11, 2025
But now you must get rid of all such things: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. ~ Colossians 3:8-10
Written by Rev. Dr. Mike Hegeman | Associate Pastor
A wise teacher once told me: there is only one choice to make in this life, and we are faced with it multiple times a day, every day of our lives. It is the choice between love and fear. She said, “Anything that is not of love, arises ultimately out of fear.” This includes: anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive language. So does the instinct to lie.
Do you know what the most often stated commandment in the Bible is? It is “Do not fear” or “Be not afraid.” We’re also told that “Perfect love casts out all fear.” It’s hard to love perfectly. I fail at it every day in small and big ways. But we have been clothed with Christ, who is our new self. And thanks be to God that that new self is being renewed every day…to conform to the image of our Creator.
Prayer: Deliver us, O Lord, from the trials and tribulations of our fears, that we may walk in the newness of Life. Amen.