Back in February and March, I was working to help write content with a team for a girls’ retreat. I ended up sitting in Colossians for a few weeks—especially chapter 3. Just sorting of circling the ideas and asking questions.

See the full passage here (Colossians 3:1-17).

As I spent time in those verses, I felt resistance almost immediately. On first glance, I was running into some old boogey men—well-worn, religious grooves in me.

• Behavior management theology. Paul gives a list of no-no’s (v.5, 8-9), and I can feel my inner manager wake up—wanting to organize, control, make a neat list of how to be better.
• Effort vs. grace. As I start adding to that list, I feel the weight of it. The old questions come back: What is my role here? What does it actually mean to “put off” the old self and “put on” the new (especially when even the verb tenses shift depending on the translation)? How can it be true that following Christ leads to a lighter burden?
• Knowing about God vs. being with God. Verse 10 says, “You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.” And I can feel the pull toward information—toward learning about God instead of actually being with Him.

These weren’t new thoughts. They were very familiar and very unwelcome.

But at this stage in my faith, that resistance doesn’t push me away. It makes me lean in.

My heart says, This doesn’t reflect the God I know… so what’s really going on here?

So I stayed. I dug into the text. I raged a little. I prayed. I surrendered to the mystery. Then I raged again. 😅

After a few weeks of that—of circling, wrestling, praying—this is where I’ve landed. (At least for now.)

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The truth:

I am have been made a new creation, and yet I am still in a process of renewal. I will either think out of my old self or my new self. I will either act out of my old self or my new self. God is renewing me as I get to know Him—so that more and more, my life flows from the new self that is already my identity.

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I still feel the tension here, if I’m honest. The line between effort/earning and grace isn’t always clear to me. These ideas feel abstract and slippery.

In an effort to have something more concrete to hold onto, I wrote this out for myself. It’s a kind of map for responding to this truth in an ordinary day—based on Colossians 3.

The call to action:

1. Practice setting your mind on things above (v.1-2).
2. Notice old versus new behaviors and mindsets in yourself (v.5, 8; v.12-14).
3. Respond to what you notice—celebrating or confessing.
4. Practice putting on love by putting on Christ Himself. Sit, even for a moment, in His love and salvation. Let it wash over you. (v.14, Rom 13:14, Gal 3:27)
   1. What flows from this…
      1. The Peace of Christ begins to settle and lead (v.15)
      2. A deeper, more relational knowing starts to grow (v.10)
5. Keep returning to His word—the written word, yes, but also the ways He is speaking, nudging, and reminding you personally and individually. Let His Word become something that lives actively in you, not just something you visit. (v.16)