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PUT ON THE NEW SELF

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PUT ON THE NEW SELF

That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:20-24).

Paul used the word ‘taught’ twice and ‘learned’ once in these few verses. This indicates the important place that learning and teaching play in a believer’s life. Unfortunately, many new Christians are expected to make their own way in their new lives, leaving them open to false ideas and vulnerable to ‘every wind of teaching’ that blows from every possible source today. Their minds are filled with a hotchpotch of confused ideas which gives them no direction fro living godly lives.

Every believer should be taught, not only the truths about the life and death of Jesus and the salvation He freely offers those who receive Him, but also the practical application of their faith in Him. Paul referred to their need to put off their old selves. What did he mean?

Were his readers aware of the reason for their sinful lives before they came to Christ? Did they know that they had inherited the nature of Adam? How important that they are taught God’s truth from the beginning. Our world has been filled with the pernicious teaching that man is just a product of evolution. According to scientific theory, there is no such thing as creation and no such person as the Creator. Humans are nothing more than superior apes! In some mysterious and unproven way, we appeared on the earth after millions of years of ‘natural selection’.

For the many thinking people, this theory leaves us with more unanswered questions than answers. Through their blindness and stubborn unbelief, scientists have spawned a universal lie which nullifies human responsibility towards their Creator. However, no matter how big or convincing the lie, or how many people have fallen for it, lies do not cancel the truth. Sin came into the world through the disobedience of one man and brought the entire human race into condemnation and subject to death.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned —
13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. Romans 5:12-14

Paul’s readers needed to know that sin corrupted their old nature and made it impossible for them to have any connection with their Creator.  Jesus, the Son of God, whom the Father sent in human form to live a perfect life and to die as a substitute for sinful man, is God’s remedy for sin. Those who believe in Him and receive Him as Lord are released from the power of sin. He gives them a new nature and a new life, powered by His Holy Spirit to live in submission and obedience to Him.

Every child of God has the potential to be like his Master and to live new lives of righteousness and holiness. What does that mean? Although it is impossible for humans always to do the right thing, Jesus has given us the gift of His righteousness – His perfect obedience to the Father – which covers our sinfulness. We have a new standing before God. We are free to approach Him with confidence because He sees only the perfection of Jesus covering us. We are freed from the power of sin to act in our everyday circumstances as Jesus would act. The Holy Spirit in us is the same Spirit that enabled Him to live a life of perfect obedience to God.

It was Paul’s task, and the task of every spiritual leader to teach, the believers how to live out the righteousness which Jesus had imparted to them. Just as one would undress at the end of the day and toss aside the soiled clothing, so Paul instructed his readers to take off their old sinful selves. The blood of Jesus had dealt with their past. Forgiven and cleansed, they were free to don new garments – the garments of righteousness and holiness.

In practical terms, this meant that every time they had to make a choice between doing the wrong thing and doing the right thing, they were free to choose to do right because they were ‘wearing’ their new selves, recreated in the image of their Creator.

Let’s simplify this idea even more. Selfishness and greed are the characteristics of the old nature. Before we came to Christ, we based every decision and choice on these two dominating influences. When Christ came into our lives, He gave us His new self, with the qualities of mercy and generosity which are the hallmark of God’s nature. We are to put on these qualities, that chooses to act in mercy and generosity in every situation just as deliberately as we would put on clean clothes in the morning.

Living this way rather than gratifying the desires and demands of our sinful nature is a process of learning. Every decision and choice we make to do the right thing will strengthen our new nature and weaken our old nature. We will grow up into maturity in Christ as surely as a child grows to mature adulthood.

Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator (Col. 3:9-10).

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3, eBook 978-4828-0511-6

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Contented In Any Situation

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CONTENTED IN ANY SITUATION

“I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:10-13.

Imagine living in a world with no e-mail and no internet banking! We have it so easy today that living in Paul’s day where the postal and banking services were carried out on foot, is unthinkable.

That makes Paul’s comments about being content in every circumstance even more amazing. Here he was, incarcerated in a high security prison in Caesar’s palace, shackled to a Roman soldier as though he were a dangerous criminal, cut off from the outside world, and especially from his friends and the churches that he loved so much, and he says he’s content! How could he be content in a situation like that?

Paul said that he had learned the secret. How did he learn it? He learned it through trusting God in his suffering. His story, recorded for us in the book of Acts reads like a spy thriller. His mission was to bring the truth of God to people who were embroiled in idolatry and enslaved by their own depraved lives. Instead of being welcomed and his message believed, he was treated like a felon, hounded from one city to another, beaten, stoned and imprisoned and his message discarded with contempt.

It would be like the prisoners on death row beating up their warden and throwing him out when he opened all their cell doors and told them that they had been pardoned and that they were free to leave.

Paul had no idea what the next day would bring for him. Would he be taken for trial? Would he be released or executed? Did he have a future or was today his last day? And he was content! It makes no sense to anyone who does not understand God’s promises or have the security of knowing who he is in Christ.

What was this contentment of which Paul spoke and what was its source? It was the attitude of absolute trust in God no matter what happened because he knew that God was in charge. It was something he had to learn, not natural to him as a human being. It was a supernatural gift of God’s grace given to him in his utter weakness. It was the ability to relax and let God take care of things for him because he was powerless to change anything.

How did Paul learn this attitude of quiet trust in the turbulence of his life? He learned it by trusting God before, in, and after the storm, when he could look back and see a pattern that revealed the hand of God over his life. Every bad patch he went through strengthened his conviction that it was okay to relax because God was there, until nothing fazed him no matter what life dished up to him. He was at peace in the knowledge that, even if they took his life, he was still secure in Christ.

Discontentment is evidence that we believe that God is being unfair and that He has short-changed us. We look at others and envy them for their circumstances, their gifts, their jobs, their position, their influence, their wives, husbands, children and…and…and! We chafe when life is hard. We can’t wait for this, that or the other to happen. We are always borrowing from tomorrow instead of living fully today.

Paul measured the slowness of the Philippians’ response to his needs against his ability to be at peace in jail and he could reassure them that he understood and that it was okay because he was not driven by his circumstances or his needs. They did what they could and he appreciated their concern for him. What they could not do did not matter because his heart was at peace.

Out of the depth of his own suffering, and the confidence in his heavenly Father that suffering had taught him, Paul could say, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” 1 Timothy 6;6-8.

There are three non-negotiable obligations for every believer in Jesus: to protect love, preserve unity and promote contentment. Imagine if these were the characteristics of every body of believers in the world!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.