Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices

Colossians 3: 5-9

Most of us who read this consider ourselves to be followers of Christ, but even among us, there are likely to be areas of sin that still need to be put to death. Paul provides quite a list in the passage above, but this isn’t an all inclusive index.

As I was thinking about today’s passage, I came across John Owen’s famous quote in today’s title and the following list that may be helpful. In his book The Mortification of Sin, John Owen provides nine insights into how sin is put to death through the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives –

• Diagnose the severity: Consider how long you have indulged the sin and whether your conscience has grown hardened or desensitized by it.
• Grasp the consequences: Acknowledge that unmortified sin courts spiritual coldness, divine discipline, and ultimate destruction.
• Be convinced of guilt: Honestly weigh the true sinfulness of your actions and disposition against the holy standard of God’s law and the cost of the cross.
• Earnestly desire deliverance: Cultivate a deep, active hunger and thirst to be freed from the corrupting power of sin, rather than being content with it.
• Consider your temperament: Recognize your unique personal disposition, physical constitution, and natural tendencies that make you prone to specific temptations.
• Avoid incitement: Guard closely against “slippery occasions”—the environments, routines, triggers, and past situations that give sin an advantage to flare up.
• Address the first signs: Rise up aggressively against the very earliest, minor promptings of sinful desire before they can take root or gain consent from the will.
• Meditate on God’s glory: Contemplate the majesty and excellence of God to properly humble your soul and expose how vile and contrary sin is to His nature.
• Don’t rush comfort: When God brings conviction to your heart, do not offer yourself cheap or premature comfort until God Himself grants true peace to your conscience.