7/6 - Ephesians 4, Part 3

God invites us, at our point of need - when we realize that we can no longer live of our own sufficiency but require His grace for salvation - to come to Him as we are (see 1 Corinthians 1:26). We were unwise, resistant to God, blind, spiritually dead. An old southern baptist preacher might say we were unrepentant, degenerate sinners!! God calls us in this condition, just as we are, but has no intention whatsoever that we stay as we are.

"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; ²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (v. 22-23, cf. 2 Cor 5:17).

When God enters our lives He has every intention on completely changing us because before we accepted Him, we were nothing like Him. So it should even be our desire and prayer that God continue to change us because, in light of His holiness, anything that's not like Him, He won't even recognize (Matt 7:21-23). So for us who believe, we shouldn't say things like "Well, that's just the way I am," "I'll always be that way so get used to it," or "I'm just being real." That last one is probably the best. We use that to suggest that what we feel (about out language, our dress, our fleshly desires) is a more legitimate reality than what God's word says....that's probably a topic for another blog. God wants to change you. Anything in you that suggests otherwise, anything that wants you to hold on to things that are not like God is a lie from the enemy.

So the end of this chapter (v. 17-32) is all about embracing this newness that can be found in God. It's so easy to conform to the world. They're the majority and there's comfort when you're in line with the majority. There's comfort nowadays in believing that sex [or even living together] before marriage is not only normal but encouraged; that drunkenness, girl-watching, smoking, excessive TV watching, pornography, foul language....comfort in believing that all these things are OK. First of all, because it satisfies the flesh but secondly because there are no social consequences for it. In fact, I may lose a few subscribers to this blog. But God has called us out - "no longer to walk as the Gentiles walk" and that we "put off [our] old [selves], which [are] being corrupted by [their] deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of [our] minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (v. 17, 22-24; pluralization mine).

My pastor mentioned yesterday that we can't be like the world and be like God because the two sides are in conflict, in fact they're diametrically opposed. So it's my goal, my prayer that each day I become less and less like the world which will in turn mean I'm becoming more and more like Him. Becoming less like the world means being different, but that's OK. I think God wants us to stand out.