Happy Sunday,
“...seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
Colossians 3:9-10
What do you need to put off? What do you need to put on?
We need habits that train our hearts to worship Jesus, not a news outlet or political party.
The philosopher James K.A. Smith calls this “counter-formation” and says, “all Christian formation is counter-formation.” Because the forces shaping our desires are strong and largely unconscious, most people don’t accidentally end up aiming their lives at Jesus.
The Apostle Paul boiled this down to two commands: put off and put on. (I preached a sermon on this passage here.)
In the early church, the newly baptized literally acted this out—derobing from old clothes and re-robing with new ones to embody the spiritual reality of living a new life of worship to Jesus. You can keep your clothes on, but if we want to make sure we’re being formed into the likeness of Jesus rather than our news source or political party, we’ll likely need to do some putting off and putting on.
Back in 2017, Jason did this by putting off updates from sources that degrade and belittle people made in God’s image, and putting on limited news that reports on every human (even his political enemies) with dignity. In recent years, I found the following very fruitful:
Put off checking headlines first thing. Put on waking up with prayer and silence.
Put off doomscrolling. Put on daily meditation on Psalm 23.
Your homework this week: Consider how you train your heart to turn down the news and turn up Jesus. Find one thing to put off and one thing to put on. Then, hit reply and let me know!
A mentor used to say, “big doors swing on tiny hinges.” Putting off and putting on are small habit changes that can train your heart to long for the peace of Christ more than the anxiety of the headlines. It’s worth the effort.
What do you think?
Peter Nittler
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More: Need some inspiration for what to put on / put off? Check out what we posted on Instagram.
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