Put Off and Put On

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.

Colossians 3:5-7

Everywhere in the New Testament we find this admonition to put off and put on. The first exhortation is always put off; If you are going to put on something, you must first put off what you've already got on. If a mother tells her ragged little boy, Go upstairs and put on some clean clothes, he knows that the first step is to take off the ragged clothes. That is also what the Scripture recognizes. We have formed habits that are wrong, sometimes without even realizing it. We have allowed ourselves to take on attitudes and actions that are destructive and make a mess of our life. But once we come to a new life we must put off the old, so we can put on the new.

Paul tells us that we must put off whatever belongs to our earthly nature. All five of these terms have to do with our sexual powers. We are sexual beings. God created the human race in two sexes. Sex is a tremendously important part of life. Sex is like a great river flowing through life which, kept within its banks, is a source of pleasure and power. But when it overflows its proper banks, it becomes destructive. All of that is behind the admonition to put off sexual immorality. That word refers to all forms of sex outside of marriage: what is called fornication elsewhere in Scripture, and adultery, which is sexual misbehavior by a married person with someone other than his or her mate. This is to be put off by all Christians.

The second word is impurity. It is the word for uncleanness. It refers to perverted forms of sex: homosexuality, child abuse, and various unnatural sexual practices. Along with these, lust is also to be put away. This refers to erotic passions which are aroused by visual things. Pornography falls under this classification. Anything that is sexually arousing: literature, movies, whatever, is to be denied. It belongs to the old life. It is beyond the boundaries of God's river and becomes destructive. Evil desires is closely associated with lust; it is mental uncleanness.

Lastly, we are to put off greed, which is idolatry. In this context, linked with idolatry, it is the greed to possess another person's body. That is idolatry. It is when you allow another person to become so dominant in your thinking that he or she takes the place of God to you. Listen to the words of some of the love songs that are popular today: You're all I need, I can't live without you, Help me make it through the night. All these expressions are saying, You are like God to me. I am looking to you to fulfill the deepest longings and yearnings of my heart. Anyone who has lived very long knows that such is an impossible demand. No human can fill that need. Those who mistakenly feel that a new affair, a new love relationship, is going to meet all the hungers of their life, find themselves again and again disillusioned and despairing, drifting aimlessly, lost on the sea of life.

I confess, Lord, that there is nothing that can fill the deepest longings of my heart like you. Help me to put off those things that I look to for fulfillment when I have in my heart all that I need. Amen.