Corduroy (Easter - Day 27)

(Based on Colossians 3:1-11)

Paul claims that when we get serious about what he calls "the resurrection life with Christ," our old life dies. Words like Christian and non-Christian, slave and free, man and woman, religious and irreligious, republican and democrat mean nothing to us anymore. What carries meaning now is how we're living out this new life. Things like bad tempers, sex with multiple partners, degrading other people, and intense lustful cravings are done with for good, being killed off. He portrays a list of things that are connected with death, or, the old way of life.

The only way I can really know how I'm doing with this new life is to ask myself how I'm doing in the areas Paul addresses: 

Am I killing off the practice of having sex with multiple partners? Yes. I have been monogamous.

Am I killing off the practice of causing harm? Yes. I still cause harm, but I'm causing it less and less.

Am I killing off intense sexual desires? I'm trying to. This has been the hardest one for the last year.

Am I killing off the practice of "doing whatever I feel like whenever I feel like it"? Slowly. I have a hard time finding the balance between "me time" and time for others, especially in the context of a romantic relationship.

Am I killing off the practice of grabbing whatever attracts my fancy? Yes. I've never been much of an impulsive buyer or attainer of "stuff."

Am I killing off my bad temper? I'm trying to, but I just can't seem to pause and take a breath breath before it happens.

Am I killing off my irritability? I'm trying to, and when I refrain from getting irritable the world looks bright and beautiful.

Am I killing off my meanness? Yes. I've gotten a lot better at not letting my irritability turn into meanness, although my coworkers may say differently.

Am I killing off my desecration of other people and things? Yes. I have stopped (for the most part) making wholesale condemnations of groups of people and beliefs.

Am I killing off my dirty talk? I'm trying to.

If I can take one thing from this passage, it's this: changing clothes is not a one time deal. Stepping into the new life of freedom is not an overnight matter. Maybe it was supposed to be, but that's not the case with me. I haven't killed off the connections I have with that dead-end life. 

Paul says that choosing to kill off these things are the byproducts of being serious about living a life of resurrection. He also says that when we choose this way of life, the labels we put on each other and groups of people have no meaning anymore. Instead of worrying about how Christian or how Jewish or how Muslim I am, I worry about how well I'm doing in "tearing off my old clothes." The reason we tear off old clothes has nothing to do with earning God's favor, or earning favor from others, but having an intense desire to experience more freedom, more life. 

Paul claims that "from now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ." There are no discriminatory distinctions between people anymore. We are free. We are resurrected. Our old lives have passed away and our new lives are here. It's kind of like standing in front of a high-end retail store, staring through the window at a really nice sport coat. I'm staring at it, but know I'm not ready to get it. I've gotta get rid of the corduroy I'm wearing, and I don't want to because I've had it for so long. When I put change in my pocket it falls out because of the huge hole. It doesn't keep me warm anymore because all the inside has been torn apart from years of washing and drying. Yet, I still have this emotional connection with it that keeps me from being ready to just get a new one. 

The way God feels about me doesn't change depending on what jacket I where. The way I feel will most definitely change. I will see the world with new eyes.