Ephesians 4:22-24 “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (ESV)
Based on Dewayne’s lesson Sunday night, I thought about these verses for a bit longer. Each year seems that many of us struggle with putting off the old self. This scripture helps us understand this constant struggle. There’s so much more to say, but here are two things to consider.
First, we need to understand that our desires are deceitful. Our desires will lead us to a corrupt life, to a corrupt relationship with God. When you buy a new product, for instance a new phone; You don’t take parts of the old phone out and put it in the new one. Some parts are outdated and others are just inoperable. When we think of our Christian life, we cannot carry the corrupt self to the new life, it will mess up everything we are working for. Our concepts of God and church are corrupted in the old life. Second, we need to renew our Spirit. To renew means to “make again.” Basically, you have a second chance to start. We can do this every day! Restart where you failed yesterday. Restart what you did wrong the day before. Starting again begins in our mind. Do you really want to start a new walk, a new life in Christ? The time to do that is today!