Thou shalt not murder...ever?

When I deserve to be smacked in the head with the proverbial two-by-four, and it finally happens, should I complain because my head hurts? Do I even have the right to assess the grip and delivery of the one wielding the “board of education”?

Today, I caught wood twice, but I’ll only describe the first time here. It will be too easy to glibly say that correcting the underlying issues will require God’s help. Too often I think we say that as a way to excuse not doing anything substantive ourselves to address the issue at hand. Yes, it will require God’s work. But because of what God has already done for me, I am expected to do my part as well.

After two years, I realize my priorities are a bit out of whack. They’re too focused on execution—on completing the To Do list so I can successfully report tasks completed at the next meeting. This means relationships suffer—all of them. I need to fully submit myself to God, and then, to “slay my dragons.” Which brings me to that first two-by-four.

In preparing for a Bible study in Colossians I will deliver tomorrow, I ran across the passage in chapter 3 where Paul contrasts the old self and the new self. The chapter starts:

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

[And here comes the swing…]

“Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.”

Those words “put to death” left a virtual imprint on my temple. They imply conscious effort, premeditated and carefully directed against the old self. But if we are a new creature in Christ—having been made alive together with Him (1:22; 2:6, 10, 12-13), what does Paul mean by this admonishment?

There are two ways, I think, to kill something. The first is to introduce something foreign and contrary to the needs of existence, such that death follows. Examples of this would be poisoning, stabbing, kicking, stoning, shooting, etc. Paul says that we need to take such action when these characteristics of the old self appear. Get rid of them—quickly!

The second way to kill something is to withhold what it needs to survive: such as air, food water, touch, love, etc. In this sense, Paul says we must keep the storehouses empty of anything that can give these characteristics sustenance. Don’t feed them. This is probably the only time murder is okay: to kill the old self.

So, I have some issues that I've never dealt with and have carried into ministry. Dealing with them will be a long road, but ultimately the best one for the sake of my family and the church.