The New Me

Colossians 3:1-17 (ESV)

Put on the New Self

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

⁵Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶On account of these the wrath of God is coming. ⁷In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. ⁸But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ⁹Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. ¹¹Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

¹²Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

I keep waiting to see the new me. Every now and then I'll get glimpses of him but he doesn't seem to hang around for very long. Just when I think that he's moved in to stay, he up and runs away, leaving me with the old me. For the record, I don't like the old me very much. The old me likes to say things he shouldn't. He jokes and carries on in ways that aren't appropriate and uses language that he knows is not suitable. He's lazy and undisciplined. He's unconcerned with the lost and hurting souls around him. All he really cares about is having a good time and avoiding conflict. The bad thing is that he knows better. The old me picks up his Bible and scans over the same passages he's been scanning over for years. He reads the words and can quote quite a few of them, but he hasn't learned to live them. The old me is a survivor. He likes to fight until he can fight no more. He never gives in easily and he always goes down swinging. Sometimes that's a good way to be, but not when it's the old me. I want so much for him to die. I want him to take one last gasp of breath and be gone for good. I've already got the weapon to do it. It's been in my possession for years, all I have to do is pick it up and use it. I need to kill him. It needs to be premeditated. I've even got the perfect accomplice to help me carry it out. It's a shame I love the old me so much. I need to learn to hate him. I need to convince myself that he must die. I need to put a sword right through his heart. I need to do it today.