Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.

Colossians 3:5 

Put Off
The Killer in You

John Owen once said that we must be killing sin, or sin will be killing us. Are we motivated to put to death things that belong to our “un-resurrected” lives? We must be!

Being assigned this Bible passage, I asked myself what was earthly in me and what is earthly in me now?

I was born to a traditional Hindu family in a small village in southern India and I lost both my parents before the age of 10. My grandmother took care of me at first, but then, due to her deteriorating health, she put me into a nearby children’s home, which happened to be Christian. It was there I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. So, what was earthly in me, was the Hindu community I was born into and brought up in. This, I gave up willingly for the Lord, despite my relatives’ reactions. You have to know that when you reject your religion, you will have to give up everything ─ including your birth right.

From today’s perspective, I can say that the Lord has blessed me much more than my previous earthly loss was. Thanks to the missionaries who brought the Gospel to India, such as Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg from Germany and William Carey from the UK. They too gave up earthly things in order to spread the Gospel in India.

We are on a journey of faith and fortunately we are not alone on this journey, we have other brothers and sisters at IPC who are walking along with us.

What is earthly in us as a congregation? I am not sure I have a specific answer, but in this Lenten season, we should ask ourselves what earthly things are hindering us from doing the will of God. Are we ready to give up earthly things, such as inappropriate food or drinking habits, ungodly behavior, unnecessary material things or idolatry? Lent gives us the opportunity to look back and then to make a new commitment to our Lord. Remember that earthly cleanliness is next to heavenly godliness.

Prayer: We adore and worship you today. Remove what is earthly in us and create in us a new spirit, so that we might be able to serve you and to walk in your footsteps. In your holy name we pray.  Amen.