Paul is exhorting the saints to walk with Christ, putting Him above all things. The Christian who has been bought with the blood of Jesus and identifies with Jesus, can put to death what is contrary to his identity in Jesus. To put to death is to mortify and kill all tendencies of the flesh that bind one to earthly pleasures.

Colossians 3:5 is about the great exchange—our life for Jesus. Paul exhorts us as believers to crucify all that identifies us with the old man and its bent toward impurity, malice, and falsehood. When we live to the new man in purity, love, and truth, the obstacles in our lives that slow us down are dismantled. We become free to fulfill the purpose for which we were made—to glorify God. To put to death our members is a painful process. The flesh does not easily succumb to the Spirit. Our members, or earthly desires, are like a wart that stubbornly attaches itself to our body. It will grow and multiply if we do not stop it. At first, we ignore it, hoping that nobody will notice, convincing ourselves that it is of no concern. However, the wart multiplies, leaving us with the choice of accepting them or mortifying them. To kill them is a painful process—they have embedded themselves deep within us, sometimes encroaching on our nerves. We have declared war. We find ourselves living in both physical and mental pain. We must endure. When we finally win the victory, the ugly wart releases itself from our body. We wonder how such a tiny thing no bigger than a sliver could have caused so much pain for so long. Now we understand the pain of mortifying the flesh. While we hope the warts have been eliminated from our lives completely, we would be wise to diligently keep them in check, recognizing that our bodies are susceptible to them. Once we have tasted the liberty found in Christ, we would be wise to keep guard over these earthly pleasures.

What earthly pleasures are you wrestling with? When you are dead to your old man, a son of Adam; you are alive to the new, bought by the blood of Jesus. Consider one place where you are seeking fulfillment from man rather than from God. Would you be willing to place this at the foot of the cross? Won’t you reply to the question posed by the hymnist with a resounding ‘yes’ when he asks, “Would you be free from your passion and pride? There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood.”