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LEARN & GROW
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Week of June 28, 2009
KEY VERSE
... 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. (Ephesians 4:22-24)
CENTRAL TRUTH
God seeks to continue His work of sanctification in us as we turn from our sinful past and embrace our new identity in Christ.
DEVOTION
A few years ago, my wife and I joined some others on an overnight hike in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. On the morning of the hike, it was misting rain, but undaunted, we began the trek to our destination, a rustic lodge at the top of the mountain. By noon, the heavens had opened, and we trudged through the cold, steady downpour the entire afternoon until reaching the lodge around dinner time. Happy, but worn out and soaked to the skin, we were ready to get out of our soggy trail clothes and into something clean, dry, and warm. Oddly, as believers, we can be reluctant to remove our smelly, ragged sin clothes and - freshly scrubbed and clean before God - to put on the robes of righteousness He has reserved for His children. After trusting Christ for salvation, the next step in God's timetable is for us to put off the old self and put on the new self. This is not a redoubling of effort to change old habits. It goes much deeper. It is cooperating with God to redirect our desires, our impulses, and our ambitions. It is allowing Him as our loving Heavenly Father to reshape who we are from the
inside out. By directing us to put on the new self, He is inviting us to experience a sense of freedom and well-being that we have never known before and that is impossible for the unbeliever to attain, because the process is started and finished by God Himself, the author and finisher of our faith. But how do we cooperate in this transformation? As we regularly read the Bible, the Holy Spirit will lead us to the truth. After we see the truth, we profit from meditating on it, working it around in our minds, and letting it linger there. It will transform our perceptions of people and events, as well as the nature of God and His relationship with us. And it all starts with God's admonition to discard something we'll never need again and to accept the new life that is ours in the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Missionary martyr Jim Elliot, said it well, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Are there parts of your old life, prior to trusting Christ as your Savior, that you still hold onto?
- Why do you think Paul emphasizes both putting off the old self and putting on the new self?
- What aspects of the new self have encouraged you most in your walk?
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