Our personalities are an amalgam of a multitude of factors. Our personal temperament, environment, and significant emotional events combine to determine our beliefs and behaviors. These factors may be contaminated by false teaching and traumatic events that can lead to unhealthy beliefs and behaviors. When Christ comes into our lives, He changes us from the inside; however, our external habits may still remain. Sanctification is the process of putting off the old habits and putting on new, godly habits that correspond to our spiritual identity.

The challenge we face is that our old habits may persist as we seek to live as a child of God. We must realize that we are able to live the new life because God does away with the old man:

knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; (Romans 6:6)

Paul reminded the Colossians of this truth by pointing out their true spiritual condition:

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

This is a statement of fact. Christ didn’t come to make bad men good – He came to make dead men live. Paul is declaring that a Christian is dead to the old self but alive to God. The term hidden with Christ denotes that we are no longer in the earthly realm but our lives are secure in Christ. We are hidden with Christ and we remain in Christ revealing the permanency and irrevocability of our salvation. Our responsibility is to think and act that is congruous with our true identity:

Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)

Since we died, we are to bring the members of our body into conformity with our true spiritual condition. The verb tense indicates that we are to do this at once, it’s not up for deliberation. The death of our old self is the provision that enables us to put to death the fleshly members of our body. Our responsibility is to bring the members of our body into conformity with our spiritual condition. Later on Paul reminds the Colossians that they have put off the old self:

Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, (Colossians 3:9)

We are to not only put off the old self, but we are to put on the new self:

and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— (Colossians 3:10)

As we put off the old self and put on the new self, we will experience our true identity as a child of God.

Rick Higgins

Associate Pastor – Discipleship.  The Church at LifePark