Let us mortify the earthly things in us

The Bible tells us that everyone who has believed in Jesus is a person born again, resurrected from the dead, dead to earthly things and alive to eternal things. We do not know how much this is appreciated in our churches, since today there is a great decline in many who claim to be Christians, but the truth is that God has a people, which causes earthly things to die by the power of His strenght.

To be born again is not merely a religious expression or a denominational label; it is a spiritual reality that transforms the entire life of the believer. When Christ saves us, He does not only forgive our sins, but He also gives us a new nature. This new life produces a clear separation between what we once were and what we are now in Him. That is why Scripture constantly reminds us that our old way of living must no longer govern our actions.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians:

5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

Colossians 3:5-7

When the Bible tells us about the “earthly” let us not believe that it refers to everything that is on earth, because if so we could not live in this world. The apostle here is referring to the system of this world, to what the world calls good, but that we ourselves know is bad.

This system promotes desires, attitudes, and behaviors that are opposed to the holiness of God. It celebrates what Scripture condemns and normalizes what separates man from the Lord. That is why Paul uses such strong language when he tells believers to “mortify” these things. To mortify means to put to death, to deliberately reject and abandon anything that contradicts the new life we have received in Christ.

Paul here mentions some of those earthly things: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, etc, and the only way for us to make all those things die is to live a full life in the Lord.

Living a full life in the Lord means allowing the Holy Spirit to govern our thoughts, decisions, and desires. It is not something achieved by human effort alone, but by daily surrender to God. As we grow in prayer, in the Word, and in obedience, the power of sin loses its grip on our lives. What once dominated us begins to weaken, because Christ now reigns within us.

Let us remember that once we walked in those things and for us it was normal, but it can no longer be normal, since we have died to sin, therefore we have also died to earthly things, which means that we no longer live according to the system of this world, but according to the model of God.

This change is one of the clearest evidences of true conversion. The believer does not become perfect overnight, but there is a constant desire to please God rather than self. The things that once brought pleasure now bring conviction, and what once seemed insignificant now carries eternal value. This is the work of grace operating in the heart of the redeemed.

Therefore, dying to earthly things is not about rejecting the physical world, but about rejecting the sinful patterns that rule it. As children of God, our lives are called to reflect heaven while we are still on earth. We live here, but our identity, our hope, and our citizenship belong to the kingdom of God. This is the calling of every believer who has truly been made alive in Christ.