Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14 (NIV)
Progress in the Christian life is not just about sinning less. It’s about the fruit of the Spirit growing more.
After listing some examples of sins that we are to mortify, Paul lists some examples of virtues that we are to pursue—compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love. The more we cultivate the fruit of the Spirit, the less we will be hampered by the works of the flesh. Identify and actively pursue the qualities that are most contrary to the sins you are seeking to mortify.
For example, if you were feeling tempted to feel sorry for yourself, what is the virtue most contrary to self-pity? Cultivate a spirit of thanksgiving. Notice the gifts of God we often take for granted and remind yourself that you are blessed. Cultivating thanksgiving expels self-pity.
What about greed? What is the best assault on greed when the things of this world are too important to you? Cultivate the grace of giving. You break the power of money by giving to God, because it demonstrates that God is more important to you than money.
This is a great issue to talk about with a believing friend, with your family, or in your Bible study. Make a list of sins that need to be mortified. Then talk about what virtues are most contrary to each of these sins, and how you could go about cultivating more of them in your life. As you do so, you will find that God is using them to mold you more into the image of His Son.
What is one sin you want to mortify? What contrary virtue could you cultivate?
