Colossians: Day 12
Verses 3:5-11
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 also 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 Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Questions:
1. How can / do we put sin to death?
2. What sin do you need to put to death? (Ask God to reveal to you any sin that you do not know exists.)
3. How are you going to put that specific sin to death?
4. What earthly and spiritual ramifications does your sin have on your daily life?
5. What does this mean, “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”?
Interpretation:
The battle against sin starts in the mind, we must consider ourselves (because we are) separated from and dead to sin. Do not forget, we have been spiritually circumcised, we are a new creation, we have a new identity, Christ is IN US! Putting to death is the conscious effort to kill all sin remaining in our flesh. When we follow our own desires rather than God’s, we are worshipping ourselves (which is idolatry) - and this is the deep impact of sin - we make ourselves God. Because believers have died with Christ, we must daily rid ourselves of sinful practices through the help of the Spirit. The Christian life is characterized by repentance from things in which we once walked. There are several steps to getting rid of sin, watchfulness, prayerfulness, and self- discipline.