Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature:
sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry
Colossians 3:5

When Paul says, “Put to death what belongs to your worldly nature,” he isn’t speaking about the death penalty or those pesky campers.

Rather, he is instructing us to put our olds sins to death. Scripture describes our condition before receiving Christ as “foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures” (Titus 3:3). Paul goes on to give a sample list of how those pleasures are manifested: “living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another.”

Perhaps as you have served this summer, you have discovered new weaknesses in your walk with God. Paul commands the Colossians to put to death those passions that belong to their worldly nature. This list includes sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed. Neither of these lists should be considered complete. What we need to put to death is any passion that stems from the sinful desires of the flesh.

Those sins will be different for each staff member you work with at camp. Each saint of God struggles with different sins, and those struggles can even change in the different seasons of maturity. You may be struggling with a sin that you never knew existed until certain conditions were ripe for it to grow. Whatever it is you are struggling with, whatever it is that is tempting you from your ministry and focus, Paul says to put it to death.

Don’t merely put it away or hide it—put it to death. Because of the unique environment camp provides, it is easy to think old sins are gone, when in reality they are only put away for a season. Once the accountability and serving-focus of the summer is gone, you may be tempted to revert to old ways.

Put them to death.

Pray for God’s grace and power.

Set up accountability.

Make it a priority. It will not be easy, and it may nhot be instant, but putting our sins to death is essential for the growth and maturity of our faith.