"Seek good and not evil that you may live, and so the Lord,
the God of hosts, will be with you."
Amos 5:14
"He has made everything beautiful it its time."
Ecclesiastes 3:11
THE APOSTLE PAUL'S GUIDE TO HOLY LIVING
WHILE LIVING IN A LOST AND FALLEN WORLD
"If then you have been raised with Christ to a new life,
thus sharing His resurrection from the dead, aim at and seek
the rich, eternal treasures that are above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God.
And set your minds and keep them set on what is above,
the higher things, not on the things that are on the earth.
For as far as this world is concerned you have died, and your
new real life is hidden in Christ in God.
When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will
appear with Him in the splendor of His glory.
So kill, deaden, deprive of power the evil desire lurking in
your members, those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you
that is employed in sin: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites,
unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is
idolatry, the deifying of self and other created things instead of God.
It is on account of these very sins that the holy anger of God is ever
coming upon the sons of disobedience, those who are obstinately
opposed to the divine will
Among whom you also once walked, when you were living in
and addicted to such practices.
But now put away and rid yourselves completely of all these things:
anger, rage, bad feeling towards others, curses and slander, and
foulmouthed abuse and shameful utterances from your lips!
Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old
unregenerate self with its evil practices.
And having clothed yourselves with the new spiritual self,
which is ever in the process of being renewed and remolded
into fuller and more perfect knowledge, after the image
and likeness of Him Who created it.
In this new creation all distinctions vanish. There is no room for
and there can be neither Greek or Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised,
nor difference between nations, whether alien, barbarians, or Scythians,
who are the most savage of all, nor slave or free man: but Christ is all
and in all, everything and everywhere, to all men, without distinction of person.
Clothe yourself therefore as God's own chosen ones, His own picked
representatives, who are purified and holy and well-beloved by God Himself,
by putting on behavior marked by tenderhearted pity and mercy,
kind feeling, a lowly opinion of yourselves, gentle ways, and patience
which is tireless and long-suffering, and has the power to endure
whatever comes, with good temper.
Be gentle and forebearing with one another and, if one has a
difference, a grievance or complaint against another, readily pardoning
each other; even as the Lord has freely forgiven you, so you must forgive.
And above all these put on love and enfold yourselves with the
bond of perfectness which binds everything together completely
in ideal harmony.
And let the peace, soul harmony which comes from Christ,
act as umpire continually in your hearts, deciding and settling
with finality all the questions that arise in your minds, in that
peaceful state, to which as members of Christ's one body
you were called to live. And be thankful appreciative
giving praise to God always.
Let the word spoken by Christ the Messiah have its home in
your hearts and minds and dwell in you in all richness, as you
teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence
and wisdom in spiritual things, and as you sing psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, making melody to God with His grace in your hearts.
And whatever you do, no matter what it is in word or deed, do
everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in dependence upon
His Person, giving praise to God the Father through Him.
Colossians 3:1-17
As Long As I Breathe
Zemer Levav
(2007)
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