“Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”- Colossians 3:5 NKJV
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we all went straight to be with God immediately after we believed the Gospel? Not so fast! While we continue to live on earth after we are saved, we now have a new life and changed desires. So, what does life after salvation look like?
The sacrifice for salvation was completed in the work of Jesus (Colossians 1:13-14, Hebrews 9:12, 1 John 2:2). The requirement to be saved is believing in what He did, and that would never change (Romans 10:9-10). However, the journey does not end there. After salvation, the journey of sanctification begins.
God takes every believer on this journey, a journey of changed desires, where He, through His Spirit inside you, puts to death the sinful proclivities and gives you the desire for His will (Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 2:13).
Paul’s letters in the New Testament often follow a pattern. He starts by telling them what Christ has done in salvation, who they are as a result of it, and then ends by telling them what is expected of them as a result of this salvation.
When you believe the Gospel, your old man, the sinful nature is dead. It was crucified with Jesus on the cross, and you receive a new life by His resurrection (Romans 6:1-11).
You are no longer under the bondage of sin, i.e., sinful desires are no longer irresistible. This doesn’t mean you no longer experience temptations. Rather, you now die to the flesh daily, not yielding to those temptations. You now must not let sin rule over you because you have a new life in Christ (Romans 6:12).
Sanctification is a continuous process. You have the legal reality of being dead to sin, and you make it vital and real in your life by saying no to sin. This was what Paul was admonishing the church in Colossae and by extension, you to do in our anchor Scripture.
Some of the ways you advance in this journey of sanctification are by consistently studying the Word of God, praying, fellowshipping with other believers and yielding to the prompts of the Holy Spirit. When you study the Bible, you come into the knowledge of who you are in Christ Jesus and what He has done about the sin problem. In prayer, you strengthen your spirit giving it ascendency over your flesh. In yielding to the Spirit, you bear fruits consistent with your nature in Christ (Galatians 5:16, 22).
The beautiful thing is that God is at work in you all through this process. He, by His Spirit, walks with you, carrying you every step of the way.
SAY THIS: I have been empowered to live a sanctified life. It is evident that I am now a new man in Christ Jesus. The patterns of the old man are dead in me, and I live in accordance with my new nature.
Bible Reading Plan: Mark 6: 30-56