Put Off and Then Put On - Col 3-4

When God changes our hearts, we change our spiritual clothes! New hearts result in new lives so totally transformed that we are like new creatures. This calls for a new wardrobe!

Paul calls on the Colossians to “put off the old self with its practices.” The old self is the sinful nature that we used to dwell in. As unbelieving sinners, we walked and lived in habitual sin. We enjoyed it. We were enslaved by it. Now in Christ, we have a new nature, but the old inclinations toward sin still hang around like a ghostly fog. Our nature now desires to please God but a battle rages between the lingering desires for sin and the new desire for God. Therefore, we must actively, aggressively do something. We must “put off” or “put to death” sins of the flesh. Paul gives a few examples of those items to be discarded; sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk, and lying.

We are not to be spiritually naked though. We have items to “put on” in place of those we discard. We are to put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, and love.

This is a huge task! Where will we find the strength necessary to move us from justifying sin to slaying sin, from pretending to have fruit of the Spirit to flowing with the fruit of the Spirit? Paul grounds us in the Word to find our success in changing our wardrobe. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (3:16). This comes after all the “put off” and “put on” talk. The more we dwell in and delight in the Word, the more we are freed to love living to God and detest living to self!