Scene:
A small-town diner, late afternoon. The smell of coffee and food hangs in the air. Two friends, Tom and Luke, sit in a corner booth. Their conversation, inspired by Colossians 3:1-8 is as easy as the rhythm of the place.
Tom:
Man, this world’s a mess. Everyone’s mad, chasing something they’ll lose anyway. I was reading Colossians 3 this morning—Paul says if we’ve been raised with Christ, we’re supposed to seek the things above. Sometimes I don’t even know what that looks like.
Luke:
Yeah, that one hits hard. It’s not talking about living with your head in the clouds. It’s about living with your heart aimed at heaven. Christ is sitting at the right hand of God—that’s where our focus has to be. Not on all this noise down here.
Tom:
So, like, stay focused on what matters to Him—faith, hope, and love?
Luke:
Exactly. Faith that trusts Him when everything looks upside down. Hope that waits for Him to come back for His church. And love—the kind that proves He’s alive in you. When people see that love, they see Jesus.
Tom:
That’s easy to say. But I still get angry. Stuff slips out of my mouth that I regret five minutes later.
Luke:
Same here. That’s why Paul says we’ve got to put away anger, wrath, malice, slander, and all that junk talk. You can’t build something holy with a dirty mouth or a bitter heart. It’s the old version of us trying to crawl back out of the grave.
Tom:
And he says to put to death all the worldly stuff—sexual sin, greed, lust, impurity. That’s a tall order.
Luke:
It is. But you don’t do it by trying harder; you do it by surrendering deeper. The old life dies when the new one takes over. Greed’s idolatry, man—it’s worshipping stuff instead of God. The only cure is loving Christ more than what you used to chase.
Tom:
You think that’s what he means by “your life is hidden with Christ in God”?
Luke:
Yeah. It means the world won’t understand you anymore, and that’s okay. You’re not living for applause down here. When Christ—our real life—shows up, that’s when everything’s going to make sense. Until then, we live by faith, fueled by hope, shown through love.
Tom:
I like that—faith for the fight, hope for the wait, love for the walk.
Luke:
That’s it. You get those three working together, and the rest falls in line. The proof Christ lives in you isn’t perfection—it’s progress. It’s when love starts showing up where anger used to live.
(The waitress refills their coffee cups. The two friends sit quietly for a moment, each thinking about what was said.)
Tom:
You know, I think I’m done letting the old me run the show. Time to live like heaven’s already home.
Luke:
Amen to that. The world’s fading fast, but what Christ builds in you lasts forever.
Faith looks up, hope looks ahead, and love looks around—it’s Christ alive in you, one conversation at a time.
Created by Steve
God’s Word…
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Colosians 3:1-8
The Life of the New Man
3 So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. 4 When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, God’s wrath comes on the disobedient, 7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. 8 But now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.