8/16 - Colossians 3, Part 2

"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. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." (Colossians 3:5-11)

Being a new man in Christ necessarily requires that you remove the old junk out of your life. Confessing Christianity means committing to a total transformation from who you were to who God wants you to be. How can a total transformation be complete if we hang on to our old stuff? Was Abram anything like Abraham? Was Saul anything like Paul? Was Steve Urkel anything like Stephan Urkelle? If I want to fix my golf swing (Lord knows I need to), there's some old habits that I need to completely forsake if my new swing will be successful. Just like any of the things we try to change in our lives - attitudes, addictions, skills, etc - holding on to our old ways only hinders our progress. I don't mean to imply that I'm offering a "just do better" or "just stop what you're doing" solution. If it were that easy, it wouldn't be worth blogging about. I'm trying to establish a foundation by which transformation can be deemed a worthy conquest and reasons why the old ways we hold on to should be destroyed. Jesus gave a great example in a parable where he said

"No one uses a new piece of cloth to patch old clothes. The patch would shrink and tear a bigger hole. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. The wine would swell and burst the old skins. Then the wine would be lost, and the skins would be ruined. New wine must be put into new wineskins. Both the skins and the wine will then be safe" (Matt 9:16-17, CEV).

If you're going to a party with a 3-piece Armani suit, don't blow it by wearing your 6-year-old busted Reebok's. Your old stuff is not allowing the new stuff to shine.

That was a silly analogy but I think it also helps explain why we hold on to our old stuff. We get comfortable in it. Those old busted Reebok's have conformed themselves perfectly to our feet & we don't want to let them go. In life we think that just because we've been doing a thing so long and we've become so accustomed to it that it can come along for the ride in our Christian walk. Paul says put to death your old members which are on earth. The list he mentions - fornication, uncleanness, evil desire, etc - we know what of those things we hold on to. I think that phrase "put to death" implies action. It's a little more than praying for it & hoping God takes it away. Now that's a great start, but without action it could be a futile attempt. This process, which I think we should be engaged in everyday (1 Corinthians 15:31), is not an easy one and requires prayer, confession, accountability, Bible study & some carefully placed restrictions in your life. If you're a shopaholic, maybe consider placing your expendable income in an account you can't easily access. Pornography addict, consider an accountability partner & blocking yourself from certain websites. These type of actions, of course along with prayer, constitute putting our old ways to death.

The process is painful & tedious, just like the Israelites who had to put their best lambs to death (Leviticus 1:1-9), but it's necessary for our sanctification.