Colossians Bible Study
Lesson 2: Becoming Willing Clay

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
~ Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)

Colossians bible study two professional women

In Lesson 1 of your Colossians Bible Study, you learned that God wants to mold you into His very own masterpiece.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
-Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

But, what is our part in all of this? As God's clay, how do we become willing vessels of His grace? That is what we will discover in this lesson of your Colossians Bible Study.

Crucifying the Flesh (Galatians 5:24)

colossians Bibe study Jesus on cross So kill (deaden, deprive of power)
the evil desire lurking in your members
[those animal impulses
and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]:
sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness,
for that is idolatry
(the deifying of self and other created things instead of God).
- Colossians 3:5( AMP)

God does not say you will not have these kinds of desires once you are saved. He says that it is your responsibility to deprive them of their power. How do you do that - By not giving in to them.

Think of the United State's terrorist negotiation policy.

As a matter of record, the United States does not negotiate with terrorists. Why?

Because once you negotiate with one terrorist, others will see it as a weakness. They will realize that they can hold your territory hostage, and you will bow to their will. The goal is to strip the terrorists of their power by refusing to give in to their demands.

Your flesh is a known terrorist against territory Jesus has already paid for in full - Your spirit. If you give in to even one of your flesh's demands, you are negotiating with that terrorist. You are giving it power.

When we give in to the demands of our flesh, we are putting it before God. In fact, God considers us bowing our knee to the whims of our flesh to be "idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God)" (Colossians 3:5 AMP).

Of course, before you died to this world:

you were living in and addicted to [such practices].
But now put away and rid yourselves [completely] of all these things:
anger, rage, bad feeling toward others, curses and slander,
and foulmouthed abuse and shameful utterances from your lips! - Colossians 3:7b, 8 (AMP)

Whether you are indulging in sexual sin, cursing, or being jealous of your neighbors BMW, you are placing your sensual appetites higher than your devotion to your loving Father. The very one who has hidden your life inside of Himself.

Becoming God's Workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)

Like Jesus, God's love and power have resurrected you to a new life in Him. But, even as a Christian, you still have a choice of whether you will be ruled by your flesh, or the Spirit of God.

No, you are not perfect. And, sometimes, you may look at your slips and mistakes. But, don't clothe yourself in shame. Instead, receive God's forgiveness and ask Him to help you overcome your flesh and truly enter your new life in Him.

colossians Bible study crowned monument Ever since that moment when you said YES to God, He has longed to begin forming you into His Masterpiece.

...you have stripped off the old (unregenerate) self with its evil practices,
And have clothed yourselves
with the new [spiritual self],
which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and remolded into [fuller and more perfect knowledge upon] knowledge
after the image (the likeness)
of Him Who created it.
- Colossians 3:9,10 ( AMP)

Just like Adam in the garden, God wants to form you after His own image. And He can.

He can mold your heart into a reflection of His heart. He can shape your ways and thoughts to be reflections of His ways and thoughts. He can make you into His representative here on this earth.

Go before your Father today, and ask Him to mold you into His masterpiece. A magnificent work of art that He can present to the world as an exhibition of His matchless love, grace, and power.