Prepare Ye the Way

Colossians 3:1-17

The world is not as it should be. We are not as we should be. Therefore, we need to expect to find that God is doing a new thing. In preparation for the new thing God is doing, we have to get into our right minds, i.e., focused on the things of God, leaving all else aside.

The question then becomes knowing what is of God and what isn’t. What makes this difficult is that we have a propensity to make our own self-interest and self-gratification the most important, naming it in full agreement with God’s will, fooling even ourselves, when the truth is it has nothing or little to do with God. 

Paul offers us wise counsel as we attempt to get our minds in the right place—

if something breaks a relationship;

if something makes someone an object instead of a person;

if we WANT something;

THEN IT’S NOT FROM GOD

Think about how often and in how many contexts we treat someone else as an object instead of as a person. Any time we meet someone in a way that communicates that we do not really see them as anything other than a tool or an implement impeding or assisting us in getting what we want, then we probably are out of line with God. 

Paul throws in greed at this point. Perfect. Greed is the engine objectification again and again and again. Greed is taking normal need and turning it into unmitigated want. Greed is hunger. It is a hunger that cannot be satisfied. More often than not, our objectification of other people flows directly out of our greed. They are the means or the impediment to what we want. They are no longer people. 

Even more basically, how we speak to one another immediately reveals how we feel about each other. Do we answer in complete irritation? Do we ignore someone’s requests? Do we find ourselves tearing someone down as we talk with our friends? Words can hurt. Words can build. Which way do our words work? Do they communicate that another person is an actual human being or not?

If this pattern reveals itself in our lives, then we have some work to do. Our hearts aren’t right. We need to make some major adjustments. We need to dehumanize the people around us. We need to see them as God sees them. Hence, getting our minds right has a lot to do with getting our hearts right.

if something enriches a relationship;

if something communicates to someone else that they are a child of God;

if we need something;

THEN IT’S FROM GOD

In other words, to fix our minds on what is holy is to fix our minds on things that exemplify and embody the other-centered, self-sacrificial love that was Jesus Christ.

We live in a divisive time. Everywhere we turn, we are told to choose sides. We are told that no one but US (whoever “us” is) is worthwhile. We are told that if we do decide to mix and mingle, then we are part of the problem and will be excommunicated from whatever community it is we are part of. It infects church, state, and neighborhood. 

The temptation in a summer as violent as this one—violent both in terms of actual events and the attitudes taken as we address those events—may lead us to the conclusion that the best response is to withdraw into ourselves. If we hide, maybe the world will go away. Remember that as you hear talk of building walls, enforcing exclusion, and limiting our engagement with other nations and peoples. 

But if we fix our minds on the things of God, we find freedom from division, for the more we approach life from God’s perspective, the more we discover what draws us together and keeps us together. We find that most distinctions and divisions within the human community are superficial. The truest of who we are is what is within. Within, we are the Image of God—every human being alive. We see one another clearly, removing any grounds for any course of enmity. In fact, if we continue to pick sides, then we are still far removed from Christ. 

Think about where Jesus actually spent most of his time—in the streets, among the people. Each person was met as a child of God, and that alone—no human distinctions were made or practiced—each person was a child made by God, part of the human family.

So, preparing for the next act of God for us, we fix our minds on God. As we fix our minds on God, we learn what is truly valuable and where we need to commit ourselves. As we learn what it is we are to be and to do, we learn that we are all in this together—that God wants all of us with him and for him. As learn that truth, we discover the foundation of community that becomes communion. 

The church is never to be an enclosure seeking to keep some apart from others. The real church is outside the building. The real worship is using the gifts of God for the people of God—all of the people of God! 

The more we seek to make this practice our end, the better we prepare ourselves for the new things God is doing. God is doing a new thing. The world is to be recreated. We are to be made new within it.

And that is where we discover the kingdom of God within us.