Colossians 3:1-10

1 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides.
2 Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ - that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.
3 Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life - even though invisible to spectators - is with Christ in God. He is your life.
4 When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too - the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.
5 And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God.
6 It's because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger.
7 It wasn't long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better.
8 But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.
9 Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire.
10 Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete.

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Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.