When Paul spoke to the Colossians, he longed for them to look different. Because of the incredible grace they received through the death and resurrection of Jesus, because they were now raised with Christ, because they had hope in eternal life, they needed to look different.

This means that some things in their lives needed to die, and some needed to be gotten rid of. When Paul tells the people to “rid themselves” of certain things, the word means to throw it off. Think of walking into your house covered in mud. Your mom or dad would likely tell you, “Get rid of those clothes before they make a mess!” This is the same idea that Paul is using. Our habits and actions can make a bigger mess than mud, so Paul wants us to get rid of the bad ones. He wants us to put to death sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed. He calls us to get rid of anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from our lips. Those are hard lists!

Then he calls us to clothe ourselves differently. We are new creations, so we need new clothes. Our clothing should be compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love.

Play a Game

Supplies:

• Shirts (17 or 34, depending on if you make a race or not)
• Pins
• Signs to pin on the shirt with the vice (bad) list and the moral (good) list
• Or…
• Balloons (30) with the vices and morals written on them, and some left blank

In order to illustrate the idea to your kids, have them do a relay race with clothes. Have shirts with labels pinned or taped on that say the different words from the two lists. On one end of the room place a pile of clothes with labels of the things they should “put on.” On the other end, have the kids line up. The first kid in line should put on layer after layer of all the clothes with the vices on them (all the clothes from the bad list). When you say “Go,” have the kid remove the layers of vices, run to the other side and put on the clothes they are supposed to wear. While they are putting on the clothes, the second person in line will be putting on the vice clothes. Once the first player has all the good one, the second player can begin to remove the vice clothes. (During this time, the first player will be removing the good clothes so the second one can put them on next). Go until everyone is finished.

Above: Pile the shirts with the good morals on one side of the room. On the other side, have someone don the bad vices.

If you have enough clothes, you can have two groups competing, or you can race against a clock. If you don’t have clothes, you could use balloons with words written on them.

Make a circle. Have balloons in the circle with vices written on them, along with balloons with nothing written on them. Around the room, scatter balloons with the good morals on them.

When you say “Go,” have the students kick out of the circle all the balloons with vices. Then have them run throughout the room searching for the good things they are supposed to put on. Whichever group rids the circle of the vices and fills it with the good first, wins.

Apply it

Think about those two lists. The list of things we want to put to death and rid ourselves of, and the list of the clothes we want to put on. What can you rid yourself of this week by the power of God’s work within you? What clothes do you need to put on?

Dig Deeper

If you’d like to learn more about Paul’s letter to the Colossian church, check out Rooted and Built Up: A Kid’s Companion to Colossians here.

Find other Kid’s Companions on the books of Mark, Philippians, and 1 Peter here.

For free Lesson Plans and Activities like the one in this post, head to the Lesson Plan Page.