We as a culture have an interesting relationship with death. We fear and dread it; we order our lives around the aim of avoiding it; and yet it’s as unavoidable as taxes. So much of our literature is devoted to hopelessly contemplating it. A history-buff friend of mine once told me that death is essentially the root of almost every historical event. Even as Christians, the idea of dying is odious to us, perhaps simply because we fear the unknown; and yet Scripture says that to be Christian is to embrace death even while we live.
No, that doesn’t mean we yearn for the end of our life. It means we live in restoration! The death that Paul talks about in Colossians is a different kind of death that involves the putting off of the old self, so that the new self can live and flourish. That new self is a self that dwells with Christ—a self that has its mind on the things of heaven, desires first and foremost to know and do God’s will, and lives a life defined by righteousness, love, and everlasting joy. That is who we are as Christians.
But for us to have this life, something else still has to die; another life has to be utterly lost. That is the life we have according to the world. It’s the self that has its mind on worldly things, seeks to gratify physical desires, and ultimately languishes away. We deceive ourselves if say that this self doesn’t still have plenty of power over us. But if we are to have true life, that old self, even though its life feels ever so real, must first be dead and buried.
Make no mistake, this is wonderful news! In Christ, we are a new creation. The old has gone—it is utterly dead—and the new has come! But it cannot be stressed enough how drastic this transformation must be. There’s no such thing as only kind of dead or mostly dead. So as Paul writes, let us strive to put to death anything and everything that comes from our worldly nature; not merely to minimize it or hide it, but to be entirely rid of it, buried six feet down, never to sway us again. What are the things in your life in particular that need to be put to death? Be bold in doing so; in Christ alone, there is everlasting life.
