We went over Colossians 3:1-17 with a friend recently. I noticed that this whole chapter seems to focus on one thing: putting to death our sins and putting on Christ. 

We’ve been born again in Christ Jesus. We died to ourselves and were raised with him, when we became his. He is now our life. Because he’s our life, we’re commanded to “set [our] minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Why? Because that’s how we will become more like our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

It calls us to put to death our sins. We need to crucify them, nail them to the cross as Jesus was, daily. But we’re not just called to stop sinning, we’re called to replace the old self with the new self that was raised with Christ, being made more like our loving Creator. We have to put on all the characteristics of God.

We put our sins to death; take off our old self and put on the new self raised with Christ. Click To Tweet

Our thoughts can’t be “I need to stop sinning.” While it’s a good thing to stop sinning, that thought process misses the point – the point is to become more like Christ. How do we do that? By getting to know him better.

Here are some ways to do that from verse 16:

1. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly – Read, study, memorize, think about, listen to teachings on his Word throughout the day. This puts his Word in our hearts, and as we receive his Word, it turns our hearts towards him.
2. Teaching and admonishing each other – This comes more easily when we know what his Word says, and it helps us to grow more like him as we seek to live out what we’re learning and teaching.
3. Singing psalms, hymns, spiritual songs – Praise to our God focuses our hearts on him, reminds us of who he is and what he’s done for us. I find when I sing praise to him, it helps my attitudes to be glorifying to him!
4. Give thanks to God – We can thank him for who he is, what he’s done, how we see him working in our lives. If nothing else, start with the first two things, because he has done so much for us, and he never changes. When we cultivate gratitude in our hearts towards him, it’s hard to leave room for complaint.

It feels like an overwhelming task – whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of Jesus, or for the glory of God. But it becomes easier as our hearts learn to love God more and more. When our desires meld into his, living for his glory becomes the overflow of our hearts.

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