Marsha's Musings: Sleep & Mortification

 I had 7 hours of sleep all in a row last night!!  First time in months that I have gotten that much sleep all in one stretch.  So glad.

Yesterday was a busy day with church, then a graduation meeting/potluck with the homeschoolers where Sarah presented her photos so the parents and graduates could choose what ones they wanted to buy.  That was longer than I anticipated but fun to visit with some of my friends.

I'm working my way through David Allen's "Getting Things Done" still.  It's a very interesting and helpful read.

My Quiet Time

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: (Colossians 3:5-10 KJV)

This is an impressive list of things we have to work on eliminating from our lives:

All of the information below in this list is gleaned from Strongs Exhaustive Concordance.

1. Fornication=Greek Word Porneia from which our English pornography comes from; includes adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals, incest, intercourse with a divorced man or woman (Mk. 10:11,12)

2. Uncleaness=physical;also moral: the impurity of lustful, luxurious, profligate living; impure motives

3. Inordinate affection=in the NT in a bad sense, depraved passion, vile passions

4. Evil Concupiscence=desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, lust

5. Covetousness=idolatry; greedy desire to have more, covetousness, avarice

6. Anger=the natural disposition, temper, character

7. Wrath=passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again,

8. Malice= ill-will, desire to injure; wickedness, depravity; wickedness that is not ashamed to break laws

9. Blasphemy=slander, detraction, speech injurious to another's good name; impious and reproachful speech injurious to divine majesty

10. Filthy communication=foul speaking, low and obscene speech

11. Lying=to lie, to speak deliberate falsehoods; to deceive one by a lie

Where the private character and private actions are concerned, eventually it may manifest into public actions.
The outward actions and attitudes are a window to what is in a person's heart.  So when I display wrath, that quick boiling up of anger,  this is a window for others to see that I have an underlying character issue with anger.

When I am discontent with what I have, this is a window for others to see that I have a character problem with covetousness which is actually idolatry.

It is very sobering to realize that our actions open a window to what is really in our hearts.  It brings home the fact that what Romans says is true.  "There is none righteous, no not one."(Romans 3:10). 

We can not keep the law perfectly to be righteous before God and He demands perfect righteousness.  The way we can stand before God on the last day is through the righteousness of Jesus Christ on our behalf.