Living a Lie: Why Christians Still Struggle Like Caterpillars
Have you ever watched a butterfly crawl on the ground, trying to chew on leaves? Of course not—that would be absurd. A butterfly has wings designed for flight, taste sensors in its feet to detect the sweetest nectar, and eyes that can see ultraviolet light. Why would such a magnificent creature ever go back to living like a caterpillar?
Yet this is exactly what many Christians do. God has fundamentally changed us, given us new life, and we still try to live our old existence.
The Reality of Our New Life
The apostle Paul writes to the Colossian church with an urgent message: if you’ve been raised with Christ, if you’ve placed your faith in him, then you have died to your old life. Your identity has fundamentally changed. You’re no longer defined by your past, your failures, or your sinful nature. You’re hidden with Christ in God.
But here’s the tension we all live in: while we have new life in Christ, we still exist in bodies that are decaying, in a world that pulls us away from God. Think of it like this: before Christ, you were driving around in an old, beat-up car with a failing engine. You thought you were doing great, but really, everything was falling apart.
When you placed your faith in Christ, God gave you a brand new engine—powerful, perfect, and full of life. The problem? You’re still driving around in that old body, that old jalopy. And sometimes, we forget we have that new engine inside us. We keep driving like we used to, making the same turns, heading to the same dead-end destinations.
Put to Death What’s Earthly
Paul doesn’t mince words. He tells believers to “put to death” what is earthly in them: sexual immorality, impurity, evil desires, and covetousness. He’s not writing to unbelievers here—he’s writing to Christians. He’s acknowledging a sobering truth: even with new life in Christ, we can still choose to live in our old patterns.
Notice what drives so much of our sin: we covet what we don’t have, thinking it will satisfy us. We look at that relationship, that house, that career, that body, that life someone else has, and we think, “If I just had that, then I’d be happy.” This is idolatry—looking to something other than God for our deepest satisfaction.
Paul then adds another list: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk. These relational sins destroy our marriages, our families, our workplaces, and our witness. And then he says something striking: “Do not lie to one another.”
The Lie We Live
In context, Paul isn’t just talking about speaking false words. He’s talking about living a false life. When we say we’re Christians but live like our old selves, we’re lying. We’re being false witnesses, living contradictions.
We show up on Sunday morning and declare that Christ has changed us, but Monday through Saturday, we’re living in bitterness toward our spouse. We’re nursing anger toward a coworker. We’re indulging the same old temptations. We’re chasing the same empty pursuits that never satisfied us before.
The world looks at Christians and calls us hypocrites. And you know what? Often, they’re right. We’re hypocrites—not because we struggle with sin (everyone does), but because we claim to be new creations while actively choosing to live like our old selves.
The Difference Between Struggle and Embrace
Here’s something crucial: Paul isn’t talking about temptation or struggle. We will always battle temptation as long as we live in these bodies. Paul himself wrote about the struggle—wanting to do right but doing wrong, wanting to avoid sin but feeling its pull.
What Paul is addressing is different. It’s about embracing our sin, walking in it, holding onto it as we go through life. It’s the difference between being tempted by something and actively pursuing it. It’s the difference between stumbling and deliberately walking back into darkness.
The enemy wants to condemn you for every struggle, every temptation. But that’s not what defines your identity. What defines you is Christ in you. Your struggles don’t change the fact that you have a new life, a new engine, a new identity.
Living Into Your True Identity
So how do we stop living the lie? How do we actually live as the new creations we are?
Paul gives us the answer: we’re being “renewed in knowledge after the image of [our] Creator.” We get to know Christ. We fix our eyes on him. We spend time in God’s Word, where we meet Jesus and understand what he’s done for us.
The greatest power against old sins isn’t white-knuckling or sheer willpower. It’s not even accountability, though that helps. The most powerful weapon is focusing on Christ—who he is, what he’s done, and how deeply he loves us. When we’re captured by the beauty of Christ, the old things lose their appeal.
Stop Crawling, Start Flying
In Christ, there is no division—no Jew or Greek, slave or free, powerful or powerless. Christ is everything, and we find our everything in him. This is our identity. This is who we truly are.
So the question remains: Are you living a lie? Has God made you a butterfly, yet you’re still crawling on the ground like a caterpillar? You were designed to fly, to taste the sweet nectar of God’s grace, to see the world through new eyes.
Stop putting on those old clothes that don’t fit anymore. Stop trying to live with one foot in your new life and one in your old. You have new life—abundant, powerful, transformative life. It’s time to live like it.
Christ has given you everything you need. Your identity is secure in him. Now live into that truth. Put to death what needs to die. Put away what doesn’t belong. And walk as the new creation you are—not living a lie, but walking in the truth.
Click here for more sermon resources.