Colossians 3

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¹You see, you have new life now from Jesus Christ. He is up in heaven now, sitting with God, at God’s right-hand side. He is a powerful boss there with God. Remember that Jesus died, then God made him alive again, and God lifted him up from the grave. Well, you believe in Jesus now, so you have to be better than you used to be. It is like you died with him, and then God made your spirits alive again, and now you live for Jesus. He is in heaven now, so you always have to think about doing good things that belong to heaven. Don’t think about bad things that belong to this earth. You are joined to Jesus Christ now, and he is joined to God. The people of this world can’t see this yet,

⁴but when Jesus comes back everyone will see him. And they will see you too. They will see that you are really good and bright, just like Jesus.

⁵So now you have to stop doing bad things. If that part inside you wants you to do something bad, don’t do it. It’s like you have to kill that old bad part inside you. Don’t listen to it. Don’t sleep with anyone that is not your wife or your husband, and do what married people do together. And don’t think bad, dirty thoughts. Don’t think about doing bad things. Don’t be greedy, wanting lots of money and things. Greedy people respect money and things more than they respect God.

⁶You know, some people will not do what God says, and he will be angry with those people, and he will punish them.

⁷At one time you lived the wrong way and you did bad things like that.

⁸But now, don’t do these bad things any more. Don’t get angry easily. Don’t go around angry and yelling at people. Don’t hate people or think about giving them trouble. Don’t talk in a bad way about people, or tell lies about them. Don’t talk in a dirty way.

⁹Don’t lie to each other. You see, you believed in Jesus and you stopped living that old bad way.

¹⁰You are now living a new way. God made you a new person and he is helping you to know him properly. He is the one that made you and now he is making you more like himself.

¹¹You are a new person now, so it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or not, or if they did a young man operation on you or not. It doesn’t matter if you come from another country, or even if you come from a wild tribe. It doesn’t matter if you are a prisoner, or a free person. This is what matters. Jesus Christ lives inside all of his people. He is really great.

¹²You see, God loves you. He picked you to be his own special people. So you have to live a new way for him. You have to be good to other people. You have to feel sorry for people that have trouble, and try to help them. Don’t be proud and bossy. You have to be easy on other people and wait for them in a quiet way.

¹³Don’t get upset with each other. If somebody does something bad to you, don’t payback to them. Remember that God doesn’t do payback to you, for the bad things you do, so don’t you do payback to other people.

¹⁴And you really have to love each other properly. When you love each other it is like you properly tie yourselves to each other.

¹⁵Jesus Christ wants you to all live together in a quiet way, so let him make you feel happy and quiet inside yourselves, so that you think the right way, and in that way you will let him control you. And always say thank you to him for everything.

¹⁶Always think about the message that came from Jesus Christ, so that you follow it all the time. Talk to each other about Jesus’s message, and help each other to follow it properly. Think about it the right way. Straighten each other out if anyone starts to get it wrong. Remember how good God is to you and always be ready to thank him, by singing to him with all kinds of spiritual songs.

¹⁷Do everything the way our leader, Jesus, wants you to do, and talk the way he wants you to talk. And always thank God, our Father, for the good things that Jesus does for us.

¹⁸You ladies that are wives, you have to agree with what your husbands want. This is the right way to follow Jesus, our leader.

¹⁹And now I am talking to you men that are husbands. You have to love your wives properly and never treat them roughly.

²⁰And now I am talking to you children. You always have to do whatever your mothers and fathers want. Our leader, Jesus, is happy when you do this.

²¹And now I am talking to you fathers. Don’t be rough on your children. Don’t make them get angry with you, or they might stop trying to be good.

²²And now I am talking to you people that have to work all the time for other people Make sure you always do whatever your bosses want. And don’t only work hard when they can see you, to make them think you are good, but also work hard when they can’t see you. Remember our leader, Jesus, can see you all the time, so respect him, and respect your bosses as you do your job.

²³Work as if you are working for our leader, Jesus, not a human boss, so be happy to work hard.

²⁴Yes, you are working for our leader, Jesus Christ, and remember that he will pay you properly in heaven, just like he promised us.

²⁵But if you do what is wrong, God will do payback to you for the wrong things you do. God judges each person the same way, no matter who that person is.