A timely death Put to death therefore what is earthly in you…Colossians 3:5 What needs to die…in you? Is there some defect of character or vice that is causing you to stumble?
Is there some secret sin that you have hidden away lest anyone find out?
Is there some aspect of your “earthly” life that gets in the way of following Jesus? Paul, writing in Colossians 3:5-8, gives a short list of the “earthly” things that belong to an old way of living. It’s not a pretty list. The implication is that these might have belonged to our life before Christ but now they to want to hang around and wreak havoc in our lives. They are deathmongers.
So what is one to do? Kill them off! But for many of us, this is easier said than done. Some of them fit like a comfortable pair of shoes. And we have worn others for so long that they feel like they are a part of us. But we have died with Christ in our baptism and have been raised to new life in him. So, Paul urges us to put these earthly things to death…to take them off like dirty clothes and be done with them. But again…how are we to do this. Some of us have tried with all our might to do so to no avail. Therein lies the answer…we cannot do this by our own power. We need the power of God working in us. The power of the Holy Spirit given to us in baptism. It is in this power that Paul encourages us to put on the new self, the one that has been raised to new life in Jesus, and then to dress ourselves with character of Christ (Colossians 3:12-17). So, what still needs to die? Let it have a timely death today! Blessings,
Matthew+ Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP p. 232) | 
