Put off

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, - Colossians 3.8-9

Some things we are told to kill. And then there are some things that we are simply told to take off. Yesterday’s list was a list of attitudes. Today there are list of things we need to put off because they are the results of the attitudes that we are supposed to kill. Getting rid of these things is evidence that have truly slain the attitudes.

If we are truly raised with Christ there are some parts of our lives that we need to kill off. When we do that there are certain things that need to be shed from our lives. These things may have suited the old man but they don’t suit the new man.

Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language, and lying are not the actions of the new man in Christ. Or at least they should not be. The very fact that we have to be told to put them off is evidence that it is something we have to deal with.

We put them off by consciously choosing not to act when we are tempted to say and do these things. We have the power of Christ dwelling in us to enable us to make the right choice. 

We do have a choice. We don’t have to be controlled by these things. Are we going to follow the leadership of the old dead man, or are we going to follow Christ who has made us alive in Him?