Thoughts for the Day

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly.... the ways you once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Dogs, have roughly forty times more smell-sensitive receptors than humans, ranging from about 125 million to nearly 300 million. I became accustomed to our labrador Alice quartering the ground to look for a ball that had been thrown. But one autumn day on the Malvern hills after it had rained she simply couldn't find her ball. The rain seemed to have lessened her sense of smell, and I had to give up. That winter was very wet, but we looked again and again for the ball, with no luck. In the spring of the following year in blazing sun, however, Alice promptly ignored the ball I'd thrown, and dived into some blackberry bushes to produce the ball she'd lost six months earlier!

Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, says we are to 'seek the things that are above' and 'put to death .. whatever .. is earthly'. Now, no-one says this is easy. Like Alice, we may have to persevere in the seeking - in our case to give up bad habits (actions or thoughts). Paul lists these as:

Anger: the flare up against a person or situation, that comes and goes quickly.
Wrath: the anger that continues to grow and increase.
Malice: the wish to deliberately harm or upset another.
Slander: the false statements made about another person.
Abusive language: the harsh or violent language to others, or to God.
Lie: the deliberate false statements made about something.

We can start by asking God's help.

Lord Jesus Christ,
in lifting our soul to You,
may we learn to give up
all that sullies our life,
whether we actually
show our faults to others,
or whether we hide them.
Forgive us our sins,
and help us to start afresh.
Amen.