Colossians 3:5 says, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.” But how, Nate? How do I moment by moment “put to death sin”?

First, we need to define/describe what putting sin to death actually means. Putting sin to death means to weaken, starve, eradicate, eliminate, kill or destroy sinful desires, words, thoughts, or actions. Back in the day, they’d refer to this as “mortification,” which means to “kill.” As John Owen wrote in his book The Mortification of Sin, “be killing sin or it be willing you.”

Weaken. Kill. Replace.

Put it on repeat.

Weaken. Kill. Replace.

Got it?

But HOW do we actually do that? Here are four intensely practical ways for you and I to do this:

1. Identify sin honestly and bring it into the light. It’s tough for sin to continue to grow, exist, and take hold of your heart and life if you bring it into the light. Sin grows in hiding; it grows in secrecy, so bring it out into the light (1 John 1:9; James 5:16).
2. Remove the opportunity to sin. Change habits. Change environments. Too often, we don’t take sin seriously because we don’t remove opportunities. A Christian needs to take decisive action against sin (Matthew 5:29-30).
3. Replace sinful desires and pursuits with godly desires and pursuits. Saying to yourself or someone else, “don’t do that,” is not only naive, but really not very helpful counsel — if that’s the only counsel you give to them or yourself. In Colossians 3:1-14, Saint Paul tells us what not to do and then writes what we are to do. Replace sinful desires with godly desires.
4. Practice a theology of remembrance. A Christian’s future is secure and is not contingent upon our consistency or performance — it is wholly reliant upon the finished work of Jesus. So remind yourself that your struggle or your failure does not define you, but Jesus’ word does (John 1:12; Colossians 3:1-4; 1 John 5:12-13).

A prayer to pray: Jesus, I belong to you. Incline my heart to love and delight in following you, and help me weaken and kill sinful desires and replace them with godly desires. I need your help. I can feel the waywardness of my heart, and at times I follow it. Remind me of the power of your Spirit in my life. Thank you for hearing my prayer. Amen — let it be done.