It Starts Small

In other Bible translations, “new man” is the phrase used. Paul, many times, says put on the new self. When we put on the new self we are renewed in the knowledge of the image of our creator. 

Our scripture today starts out with and…. There is something missing to the context so we need to look above to see what Paul is speaking about. 

Paul gives us a condition of our renewing:

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4

First, we must have received Christ as our Savior. Second, we need to seek the things above. Third, we must set our mind above and not on earthly things. 

If we want a daily renewing of God’s mercy we must first do these three things: Acknowledge Christ has Lordship over our lives, seek, and set. Let’s remember what our old way of doing things where:

⁵ Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient, ⁷ and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. ⁸ But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices Colossians 3:5-9

Before we received Christ as our Savior, we had a different set of knowledge. Our knowledge was rooted in the philosophy of the world. It was rooted in selfishness and our own desires. Our attempts at good were actually only for ourselves. We had no love in our hearts for our Creator, let alone others. As a result Paul gives us a list of things to remember about our earthy nature. 

Paul gives us a wonderful reminder, “You once walked in and lived these things out.” We are never going to be perfect in this life. We are going to still make mistakes. The difference between a mistake and living in sin, is that our mistakes have an impact in us. We grieve our sin because we know that sin brings us death. 

Instead Paul says, remember, you put off the old self with its old practices. 

Today, and each day, we need to live intentionally about walking against our old nature. All our old nature knows is sin and it desires that sin. It craves it. 

I do not know if this would hold up in court, but I believe the knowledge we gain is the Truth about sin. Sin is evil acts empowered by evil. Evil uses sin in us as a pawn to steal our peace and joy, put death to our relationships and destroy us as God’s creation physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 

This knowledge is gained by the experience of sin in our lives. When we look back, we can see that no matter what the sin is, it stole from us, it killed a relationship, or is destroying our mind, bodies and spirit. It kept us separated from our Creator. 

Today, and everyday, lets put the new self on! Let us put on the full armor of light, which is Christ Jesus!

Ponder: From Paul’s list, what sins do you need to crucify on the cross? Turn completely away from? What from your old self is still clinging to you?

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