Colossians 3:5-10 (NIV): Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Those who belong to God must live holy and righteous lives. I know that that statement may shock a lot of people, and there are a lot of people who don’t think that it is even possible this side of heaven. But if we seriously read God’s word as He caused it to be written, we will clearly see that God’s expectations are significantly higher for us than ours are!
But honestly, the problem that many people have with being able to actually live a holy and righteous life is not that the standards are too high; it’s that we are not willing to actually put to death those things that belong to our earthly natures. We don’t really want to kill them off entirely. We want to suppress them, to hold them down, to weaken them, or to keep them within “reasonable bounds.”
But there is really no way to do that as far as sinful behavior goes. Sexual immorality, for example, really can’t be contained “within limits,” or “done in moderation.” There is a line, and a person is on one side of it (NO sexual immorality), or they are on the other side of it (ANY sexual immorality at all). What would you think of a person who claims to be a Christian, but says, as far as sexual immorality is concerned, “Well, I keep it within reasonable bounds. For example, I only look at pornography once or twice a week, and I only cheat on my wife once a year. That’s better than a lot of people I know, and I really don’t see how anyone could be expected to do better than that as long as we live in this body.” Ridiculous, right?
It’s the same with all of the other behaviors: impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed. People may come up with a million excuses why their particular brand of immoral behavior is excusable under the circumstances, but Paul is right: those things open people up to God’s wrath, and must be completely (and ruthlessly) eliminated from the lives of His people.
The same must be true of those things that are contrary to God’s love: anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, and lying to each other. As Paul notes, all of these must be eliminated from the hearts, minds, and lips of God’s people by a conscious effort. Many don’t believe that God really means these words as a command (surely it’s just hyperbole, right?), because getting rid of some of these things, especially those things that have become ingrained due to long practice, can be desperately difficult. But the secret is in verses 9-10 (a restatement of 3:3): a real death of the old person that we once were, and a resurrection to a new life through Gods’ power and presence.
I understand (from very personal experience) that the old person often dies hard, and sometimes seems to rise up again not long after we think that we have finally gotten him dead and buried. But God Himself will join us in the effort, putting His infinite power to work in us, if we will only set our entire selves to the task. When a person is absolutely determined to live his or her life completely for God, we will find that we have all of the motivation that we need, and that we have at our disposal all of the strength that we need, to take off the old self (and all of the sinful practices that are part of it, no matter how clingy they have become), and to put on the new self that God will create in us; a self that is continually being molded and shaped into the very image of Jesus.
Father, I know from my own experience how stubborn the old self can be, and how much of a fight it can put up when you are trying to kill it! But I also know that it can be killed if I am dead set on getting the job done, especially when You are present in power. Thank You for the new life that You give to us, and for the power and grace that You give every day, enabling us to live genuinely holy lives in Your presence. Amen.