I Should've Known

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature..." (Col. 3:5)

I should've known. After posting such a critically important exhortation that is so central to living "in Christ" yesterday, I should've known that there would soon be a test of how ready I am to die to self...

This morning, as I was preparing to get in the shower, my wife asked me to first go to our garage and take a large, heavy box out of the van, as she was going to be taking the van to help someone out today with some projects and she was going to need the space. So while she went upstairs for a few minutes, I went and gladly did my husbandly duty for my wife, as requested.

A few minutes later, as I finished my shower and came out into the kitchen, I was surprised to see my wife still there, as I thought she had been planning to leave imminently. So I said, "Oh, you're still here. I thought you were planning to leave," to which she replied, "I'm waiting for you to take care of the box in the van."

Begin test...

Now the truth of the matter is, when I finished my shower and was still in the bathroom, I had heard Sue out in the kitchen, and thought to myself, "Oh, she's still here. You know, I bet she thinks that I forgot to take care of that box..."

So how did I respond? Annoyed that she had just assumed that I hadn't followed through, I said with biting sarcasm (which comes far too naturally!) to my unsuspecting wife, "Do you want me to put it back in the van and take it out again?!" (Yeah, I know. Really stupid!)

"You already did it?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, I didn't know..."

Now, the following was not expressed openly, but still went through my mind. "No, of course you didn't know. Once again you just assumed that I dropped the ball..."

Test failed! Maybe I'm not giving God enough credit for the self-control I did demonstrate by what I didn't say, but then again, Jesus doesn't make much of a distinction between actions/words and the heart/thoughts, does He?

So what's the point? The point is, you and I are tested every day by the countless opportunities we are given to put our earthly nature to death. They come in big and small ways, obvious and not-so-obvious. And the only way we can pass these tests is by humbling ourselves and acknowledging our need before God, denying our flesh, but then also putting on Christ! After a paragraph of what putting our flesh to death looks like, Paul then goes on to say in Colossians 3:12, "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves..." And of course, what follows are essentially the characteristics of Jesus.

So yeah, test failed. And I should've known there would be one coming (as, no doubt, there will be more before this day is done). But I also should've known better. By God's grace and His enabling, I will next time.

How about you?

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Epilogue:  I did, by the way, call my wife before I started this blog to apologize for my sarcastic response. This time, actually, it seems like she hadn't really thought too much about my response, for which I was grateful. She usually hates my sarcasm.

Thank you, Lord, for a godly (and forgiving!) wife!