Putting On The New Self!

2014 is a new year, and with a new year we often make New Year's Resolutions to make improvements in our lives. We promise ourselves to lose weight, stop swearing, not be mean to our spouse, etc. We want to be a better person, but how long do we stick to our resolutions? Usually by February we've fallen back to our old ways and have become discouraged. How can we become that new self? The Bible encourages us to become that new person and also tells us how. 

Put off your old nature, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on a new nature..." Ephesians 4:22-24. If we are honest with ourselves, we will agree that mankind in general is selfish, angry, slanderous and are liars. Sure, some people are nicer than others, but when measured against the yardstick of a perfect life, the whole lifetime long, we all fall short.

For example, if we each started to swim from the United States to England, no one would make it. You might swim farther than I, and I might swim farther than someone else, but no one could swim that far. It's much the same way with trying to live a blameless life through our own thoughts, words, and actions. ...but now put away anger, rage, slander, and foul talk from your mouth. Do not lie one to another, put off the old self with its practices and put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:8-10.  

And, this is important, we don't need to make this change into a new person by ourselves. God changes us! Here's how: Therefore, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved (made whole). For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified (made right), and it is with your lips you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9-12 God sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts through the door held open by Jesus Christ. We are changed...into a new person.

Now if any one is "in Christ," he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 God knew that man cannot earn his way back into God's graces. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, mankind has been stained with imperfections. As we try to live our lives, we - not being perfect - cannot live a life that is pleasing to God. That is why God sent His son Jesus Christ to be our Savior, to be the payment mankind owed God for Adam's sinful act. Since Christ died for us, we are now justified (made right) by His blood; God's unchanging plan is to adopt us into his family. Ephesians 1:5  Jesus is our big brother who set an  example for us to follow while He was on Earth. He now sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us...when we mess up, Jesus jumps to our defense. Through Him, God grants us mercy and grace.

How exciting and marvelous is that!...but wait. Our problem is that we still have our same old thinking patterns and bad habits that we carry over from our past. God changed us on the inside, spiritually, but how can we let that beautiful, new inside shine through our old nature? How can we let God's light within shine out to others?

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect... Love one another with brotherly affection... be aglow with the spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of other Christians, practice hospitality." Romans 12:2, 10-13

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled

the law (commandments)... You should love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong

to a neighbor; therefore love fulfills the law. Romans 13: 8-10  You see, with the new nature that is given to us by God when we accept Jesus Christ, we can fulfill the law. We can please God. We can do things we never even thought to do or thought we could do. I can do all things in him who strengthens me." Phillipans 4:13

How is that possible? Jesus, before his death, said to his disciples., ...I will not abandon you as orphans... the Father will give you another counselor, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads you into all truth. He lives in you now. He will remind you of everything I myself have told you. John 14:16-18, 26 The Holy Spirit is with you 24/7 to give you the wisdom you seek to make right choices, and guides and directs you to walk a Christian life.

Please read God's Word and learn:

• Why man needs a savior - Romans chapters 1-3
• How a person can be saved - Romans chapters 4, 5 and 10
• The great things that we become when we are adopted as God's children - Romans chapters 5-8, Ephesians chapters 1-3

Knowing that we can shrug off our old nature like an old raggedy, stained coat, we can then put on our new nature, not by struggling to live up to God's standards, but by remembering who God is making us to be. Put on that new coat. Start behaving like that person. Remember, God loves you enough to help you be like His Son Jesus, through prayer, renewing your mind by studying His Word (the Bible), and by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

                       

                    OR

    Which do YOU Choose?

If you have questions or a thirst to learn more, please see Christine or Jeff. This month we will begin a new program to help beginning Christians learn how to give more and more of themselves to God. We will meet from 4:30 - 5:30, after the meal that follows our usual Baskets of Life meeting. We welcome you to this new group, transforming you, by following Him.
Hope to see you then,

Jeff and Christine