In Colossians 3:2-3, the Apostle Paul writes, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Time and again we are exhorted to consider ourselves dead to sin, dead to the allures of this world and dead to our fleshly desires. Obviously, Paul is not talking about suicide or literally killing ourselves, but he is referring to how we should treat the inordinate desires that we encounter on a regular basis. He describes our relationship to them by comparing us to a dead man. Let's look closer at this.

A person who is dead is not capable of reacting to anything. He doesn't react to criticism, to temptation, or even to praise. A dead man doesn't get angry at you if you call him an ugly name or if you cut him off on the freeway! He can't complain to you if you owe him some money. The reason is simple: He's dead, his emotions (and his body) are no longer alive to feel anger, bitterness or revenge. Paul uses this condition to describe how we believers should respond to the opportunities that we all have for emotional outbursts. He simply says that we are to respond the same way that a corpse would react. No reaction! Remember, what we practice on a regular basis will eventually dominate our behavior. Let's all learn to practice being "dead" to the things of this world. You can do it because you are "alive" in Christ! Have a great week!

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