Colossians 3:5

Paul wrote this letter to the church in the city of Colossae, located in what is now western Turkey. He had been teaching them that because Jesus rose from the dead, those who follow him share in that new life — which means the old way of living no longer fits who they now are. The phrase "put to death" is deliberately extreme; Paul isn't suggesting moderation or gradual improvement. He's calling for something more like radical surgery. The list he gives covers a range from outward actions to internal states: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed. The most striking move Paul makes is his last one — calling greed "idolatry," placing the love of money and possessions in the same category as worshipping false gods. In a culture saturated with both sexual permissiveness and wealth as a sign of divine favor, this list landed like a challenge to almost everyone.

Father, there are parts of me I keep making excuses for. I don't want to just manage them — I want to be genuinely free. Give me the courage to name what needs to die, and the grace to believe I am more than what my appetites tell me I am. Amen.

"Put to death" is not a gentle phrase, and Paul didn't choose it by accident. He doesn't say "manage your earthly nature" or "be more mindful of it" or "work on it gradually when you get a chance." He says kill it. There's a reason the language is that extreme — because the things on his list don't die quietly. They come back. They negotiate. They dress themselves in perfectly reasonable-sounding justifications and knock on the door again. Greed especially almost never announces itself by name. It shows up as ambition, as security, as simply deserving a little better — all sensible-sounding until you realize it has quietly become the thing you actually serve. But this verse doesn't come attached to a self-help plan. It comes as a command to people who already belong to something larger than their appetites. The invitation underneath the hard words is this: you are not who you used to be. You don't have to keep living like that. What Paul is asking you to do is agree with that — to actively, daily refuse to let the old life keep setting the terms. That's less about raw willpower than about identity. What do you actually believe you are, deep down? Because that belief — more than any resolution you've ever made — is quietly running your life.