JULIANNE ATKINSON |GUEST

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have 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).

I used to go fishing with my grandparents in the lagoons and ocean near their house in Savannah. We would choose bait specific to the fish that we wanted to catch. I’d squirm as I put the raw shrimp on the hook. What I really preferred was to squeeze the squishy, glittery plastic worms that caught the light of the sun like a fish’s scales. Whatever bait we used looked just like what the fish preferred to eat, smelled like what smelled good to them, and moved as they expected. Yet inside the bait is a terrible and deadly hook.

Sin can act in a similar way. It’s like a shiny bait that catches our eye and makes us think we’ll be fulfilled and satisfied. Nestled inside the glittery facade is a sharp barb that leads to deep pain. The longer we live, the more we can see the devastation that sin wreaks in our lives. As the Puritan theologian John Owen soberly puts it in his book, The Mortification of Sin, we need to “be killing sin or it will be killing you.”^[1] The more we let it get a hold of us, the deeper the hook embeds itself. We find it increasingly hard to remove. And we reap serious consequences.

As believers, we know these things about sin and its effect in our lives, but what do we do about it?

In his letter to the Colossian church, Paul engaged with this young church by highlighting two ways we can grow in a desire to live righteously. First, we can try to do it on our own. Second, we can do it by the strength of the Spirit of God.

The Folly of Trying on Our Own

When we try to do it on our own, we become hypocrites, sinning and then attempting to cover it up. In his letter, Paul wanted them to be vaccinated against the creeping wisdom of the day that taught asceticism. In asceticism, we merely scratch the surface of the whitewashed tomb of good works and find the fruits of the flesh. We find hearts that are hard, stony, stubborn, rebellious, proud, and unbelieving. Think of a watershed with beautiful streams flowing through the valley. God is the fountain from which our righteous works flow. When we try to do it on our own, it’s as if we’re trying to get fountains to flow without the fountainhead. There’s no source without the Spirit. The works we do end up dry and we continue striving in our thirst. We end up with a shiny facade that people praise but on the inside we’re in despair, covering up our sinful desires and motives.

This state, living life without the Spirit, is described in Ephesians 2:5 as being dead in our trespasses and sins. When one is dead in trespasses, there is no flowing water. If I am merely sick in my trespasses, there might be a tiny stream. For example, if I’m physically sick, I can still get up, take my kids out of the crib in the morning, feed them breakfast, and go to the playground. I would feel miserable and not do a great job in my parenting that day. Likewise, if I were merely sick in my sin, I might be able to try REALLY hard and only do a subpar job of putting my sin to death. On the other hand, if I were physically dead, I would not be able to get out of bed in the morning. My children would have nobody to help them. We don’t expect a person without life in them to do anything but lie there cold. This is true of those who are spiritually dead. They cannot do anything. They cannot put their sins to death. They cannot live righteous lives.

The Joy of Change by the Spirit

Contrary to when we try to live holy lives in our own power, when we live by the Spirit, we find true change in our lives. Colossians 3:1-17 paints a beautiful picture of what that looks like. When the Word dwells in us richly, seeking things above, with minds set on Him, we are able by the Spirit to put to death what is earthly in us. The barbs and hooks and fishing lines become easier to detect. We can turn from the wisdom of the day that tells us we have the power to transform our lives by our own works and instead enjoy the self-forgetfulness that comes when our eyes are set on the One who is above all things. The works of the flesh fall away and what we do by the Spirit flows from the fountainhead of God Himself. That’s because we are not under the power of the law, told to fight against sin but without any strength for the battle. Instead, we are under the grace of God who gives us strength by His Spirit. In Ezekiel 36:26-27, God tells us, “I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” By God’s grace and the work of His Spirit in us, we walk in His ways with a soft heart full of joy.

As we live lives devoted to prayer and the Word and seek the things that are above, we face the world around us with the confidence of what God is doing through us. We know it is His work, not our own. Sanctification then becomes a joy. We see our lives as a beautiful garden growing fruit trees, vegetables, spices, and flowers with waterfalls and streams flowing through it. Inevitably there will be weeds that pop up and invasive species will try to take hold, but Colossians 3:1-17 encourages us to tend to garden by the power of the Spirit. To weed out what doesn’t belong. To take action against what is evil. We also put on what is holy while putting to death what is earthly. We don’t let the garden become a dry, desolate wasteland. We don’t let it become be overwhelmed by sin and invasive idols. We labor to put sin to death as the Spirit convicts us of our sin and gives us the power to resist it. This is the Christian life.  So may we put sin to death by the power of the Spirit, not in our own strength.

^[1] p.27

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