We recently moved to a new house we’d never seen in person. We pulled up, unlocked the front door, and tentatively explored the place we’d call home. Walking through the screened-in porch and into our backyard, we found that overgrowth choked the garden beds. Weeds and a giant spider that we named Tiger guarded plots of dead vegetables and flowers.
One Saturday afternoon, we committed time to our garden. Our family pulled up plants and rotted boards, tore down broken wires, and kept a wary eye out for Tiger, hoping he wouldn’t make a sudden appearance. Only a large patch of dirt remained by the end of the day, ready for the next growing season.
If you showed up on our front porch and I led you to our backyard that night, you wouldn’t see the hours invested pulling weeds. You wouldn’t see progress. You would see a mess.
How many times have I looked out over my spiritual life and felt the same? God has done a great work in me, pulling up the overgrowth of sin and darkness, but all I see is the work left to do. All I see is the mess.
Are you desperate for a new beginning? Do you focus on the failures and struggle to see growth in your walk with Christ like I do? This isn’t surprising. Scripture describes the Christian life as a constant war between the flesh and the Holy Spirit.1 Sin lingers in our hearts as long as we walk this earth.2 The rhythm of sin, contrition, repentance, and forgiveness defines our lives.
Yet in all of this, God is doing something special and often hidden within his people. Through his Holy Spirit, God is bringing life to every area of our hearts.3
Fruit-Filled Identities
Understanding the beginning of the Christian life reveals what God is up to. When we trusted in Christ, there was a definitive transformation—one that brought us out of death and into life.
Paul explains in Romans: “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death” (Romans 6:20–21). Before we trusted in Christ, our lives bore rotten fruit. The gardens of our lives looked like my backyard before we started tending to it—sin choked out good works. Death grew while life withered. Enslaved to sin—which God hates—we could not please God or make him love us.
This is not the end of our stories. Paul continues: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life” (Romans 6:22). A great transformation has taken place in our hearts. God has made us his own and sent us his Spirit. We now bear the fruit of our good Master, the fruit of his righteousness.
We do this imperfectly, don’t we? Yet if we’ve trusted in Christ, this transformation is true about us. It defines who we are. Our identity has been transformed from “Slaves to sin, unable to please God,” to “God’s favored servant, made righteous through his Son.”
I love how Paul reminds the church in Colossae, “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). As those who love Christ, we’re anchored to heaven. Christ has secured our souls in salvation and will not let us go.4 No matter how much we might fail or fall, these truths are certain for us.
Fruit-Filled Lives
From this place of security and certainty, we work out our salvation with fear and trembling.5 Paul commands his readers in Colossae to “put to death” and “put away” what is earthly in them.6 In other words, that sin that still lingers? Do everything possible to pull it up by its roots and destroy it. It will be messy and challenging, but striving alongside the Spirit to kill sin and unrighteousness is worth it.7
I wish this part of the Christian life was prettier than it is. Temptation comes and we struggle to say no. We’re less angry than we were a couple of days ago—but we’re still angry. The sin struggle from years ago reappears and we’re discouraged—shouldn’t we be farther along in our walk with Christ? Why are we so behind every other Christian on this planet?
As we cleared our garden on that Saturday afternoon, uprooted weeds and fencing littered the ground. Compost bags remained half-filled. The work-in-progress yard looked far worse than when we began—what had we done? We were completing the work needed to make way for new growth.
We see this concept in action when, after commanding readers to destroy and put off sin, Paul then encourages his readers to “put on” works of righteousness (Colossians 3:12). With the ground cleared of weeds and debris, the Spirit begins to grow us in Christlikeness.
When you see your failure in the past, do you also see the way God has been working in and through you to make way for new growth?8 Do you see that God is redeeming you by killing sin and uprooting unrighteousness? Do you see that God is clearing your heart of wickedness to make way for his righteousness? This work will look messy and challenging, but it is good, godly work.
Oh friends, keep striving to fight sin. Don’t be discouraged by the challenge of the fight, but know that the Spirit strives alongside and within you. Know that Christ’s resurrection secures your life in him. Know that the Father keeps you in his hand.
God is making all things new—including you.
For Further Study
- Read Colossians 3:1–17.
- In Colossians 3:1–4, make note of what Scripture says is true about you if you trust in Christ.
- In Colossians 3:5–11, make note of what you struggle with in this list. Why might it be encouraging that Paul commands his readers (us!) to put this old way of life away?
- In Colossians 3:12–17, make note of what it looks like to be “God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.” What fruit do you hope to cultivate in your life?
Return to Colossians 3:4 and read it again. How does this encourage us to pursue this high calling in Colossians 3:1–17?
Footnotes
1 Galatians 5:17.
2 1 John 1:10.
3 Romans 8:10.
4 ESV Study Bible (Crossway, 2008), Colossians 3:3.
5 Philippians 2:12–13.
6 Colossians 3:5, 8.
7 Philippians 2:12–13.
8 Colossians 3:10.
Photo Credit: Jenna Martin
Ashley Anthony is a pastor’s wife, mom of four, literature instructor, and seminary student. She’s a member of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, loves a good cup of coffee, and loves connecting on Instagram!
