One thing you should know about me is that I love coffee. The smell, the jolt of caffeine, the cute coffee shops, the chill environment, I am a big fan. A few years ago, though, my body decided it couldn’t handle caffeine anymore. I was told that it would be better for me if I stop drinking coffee. You can imagine my despair. I had to make the switch to decaf.
My morning routine, afternoon routine, and the thing I looked forward to was gone. I had a new way of living. I had to establish new routines like going to bed early so that I could get enough sleep. After all, my midafternoon caffeine hit would be no more. The new way of going through my day was a big change but one that was necessary and worth it.
In the Christian life, we are given a new heart and a new way of living. We are to put off the old self of our sinful desires and put on the new self. More than this, we are to put to death our old way of living so that we can experience the blessing of the forgiveness and grace from a relationship with Jesus.
The Old Life
Paul writes that believers are to put to death that which belongs to the earth. He means we are to ruthlessly get rid of the sin in our life.
But before we get to this place, we need to understand where we were before Jesus. Left to ourselves, we were dead in our sins. In our sinful nature, we wanted to live apart from God, doing what we wanted when we wanted. We chased after pleasure, comfort, control, passion, and so many more things.
And Paul is very specific here. A lot of times, we talk about our sin in very general terms. But sin is not something to mess with. We need to be really honest about what sin has a hold of our hearts. Look at Paul’s list, “sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry…anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another…” (3:5, 8-9). This list only scratches the surface, but it gives us a sobering picture of how we lived apart from grace.
Basically, we wanted everything but God. We kept Him at an arm’s distance.
If you were to ask a non-believer why they think God should let them into heaven, you will often hear, “I’ve done good things in my life more than bad. I’m a generally good person.” Though this sounds like good logic, it falls vastly short of a right understanding of sin.
Because God is holy, He cannot be around sin. Our sin separated us from Him by such a degree that we would never reach Him on our own. It would be like needing to jump across the Grand Canyon in one leap. It just can’t be done.
That’s how it was with our sin. Our debt was too big.
More than this, we liked living this way. We were in complete disobedience to our Creator.
The Message of Hope
But God. This is one of the greatest phrases in all of Scripture. God could have easily left us in this state. After all, His creation rejected Him, so He could reject them. But He didn’t.
Instead, God did something about it.
The only way we could be made right with God once again would be to pay the debt. The payment for our sin is death. We already established, though, that our debt was too big. There was no amount of sacrificing animals that could measure up. We needed an eternal payment who would cover our sin once and for all.
So God sent His very Son to put on flesh and become one of us. Jesus lived the perfect life we never could. He never sinned, though He was tempted. He came to earth to preach peace and the good news of the kingdom of God. He cared for the weak, lowly, sick, and outcasts. He showed the people what God the Father is like.
Jesus brought hope.
Despite all the ways that He was preaching and proclaiming good news, the religious officials became jealous and sought to dispose of Him. They falsely accused Him of a crime He never committed. He was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death by crucifixion.
Jesus willingly went to the cross in obedience to the Father’s eternal Rescue plan. He gave up His life out of His great love for mankind. It was the payment we needed for sin. Human life for human life. But Jesus was also eternal, making His sacrifice great enough to satisfy God’s wrath and sufficient to cover the sins of all humanity.
The religious leaders and Satan thought they had defeated Jesus, but they were wrong. Three days later, Jesus rose from the grave, conquering Satan, sin, and death forever. His resurrection brings us victory.
It is the greatest message of hope that a hurting, broken world is longing for. Jesus is alive. Salvation has come. We don’t have to keep living in our sin. There is a new way to live.
The New Life
For those who have trusted in Jesus’ atoning work and resurrection, they are given a new heart, a new outlook, and a new master.
As Paul states in Colossians 3:8, “But now, put off all such things.” This is not a command to try harder and do better. It’s a call to abide in Christ, knowing that He has already accepted you the moment you trusted in Him.
It’s allowing the Holy Spirit to sanctify you each and every day more into the image of Jesus. Paul continues in verse 10, having “been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it.”
As stated earlier, before coming to Christ, we weren’t able to live in a way that is pleasing and honoring to God. We were dead in our sins. But now, we are enabled through the Holy Spirit to live differently.
It doesn’t mean that this will be automatic or perfect. It is a daily choice in tandem with the Spirit to say no to our old ways and yes to the ways of Christ.
When you’re tempted to fall back into gossip or seeking comfort over serving or tearing down someone else with your words, you can say no and choose a different way. This happens by remembering truth and turning to Christ in prayer. It is asking for accountability by the believers around you. It is immersing yourself in God’s Word so that it changes the way you think and view life. It is truly a new way of life.
Your sin was worth the blood of Christ. Rather than holding that against you, God simply says, “Come. Come with your whole being and heart. Come and be made new. Come and see what a life with me looks like. Come and belong.”
The old way of living was full of hardship, trials, and dissatisfaction. The new way of living is not always easy, but it is worth it. It is full of hope, freedom, joy, peace, and purpose.
Additionally, Paul tells us that our new way of life also brings us into a new humanity, one where we are all brought together as brothers and sisters in Christ. There are no longer distinctions. We are all brought to level ground at the foot of the cross, and we are all offered the same grace through faith.
It is the beautiful reality of being in Christ.
I may not have wanted to give up my caffeine habit, but it was the best decision to make. Now, I no longer deal with caffeine headaches. I have a better daily routine, and I’m no longer dependent on coffee to get me through the day.
Doesn’t a new way of living, rooted in Christ sound so much better, too? I pray that you would daily choose to put off the old self and choose to walk in the freedom of the new self, for it is where life is truly found.
