Monday, August
6, 2018
With the
Lord’s authority I say this: Live no
longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of
darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed
their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly
practice every kind of impurity. But
that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the
truth that comes from him, throw
off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by
lust and deception. Instead,
let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly
righteous and holy. Ephesians 4:17-24(NLT)
Hopelessly confused! Minds full of darkness, closed and without
shame. It sounds like Paul held little optimism
for the Gentiles to find any peace or sense and purpose in life. But Paul didn’t reserve that bleak outlook
exclusively for the Gentiles; elsewhere he wrote essentially the same thing
about the Jews, that they were acting as people of darkness, despite the light
God had given them. Paul expressed
heartbrokenness to the extent that he would give up his own eternal life if it
were possible to save them.
Now, if Paul expresses this
hopelessness for both Jews and Gentiles, who’s left? The short answer is…nobody! To the Jews, there was no other perspective
from which to view things – you were either inside the covenant, or outside;
you were a son or a slave.
And, truth be told, the
Bible presents no middle ground where that is concerned. When you consider the terminology of judgment
passages, there is either lost or saved; those two
categories do not have a common meeting place!
So, what is Paul’s
point? Actions are important; they tell
you what is going on within the person who
acts. It’s not that actions create
eternal life within, but actions announce whether the second birth has actually
occurred. Paul says to the believers at
Ephesus: If you really did surrender your
life to Christ, where is the change of your behavior that is consistent with
life; why are you still acting as if you’re dead in sin?
The apostle takes these
disobedient Christians to task for their dimness of holy living; he ushers them
into Heaven’s dressing room. Take off
the old garment of sinful living which is tattered and threadbare…that which
can’t keep you warm and is not fit for you to wear before God; put on the new
garment, your holy nature, knitted by the Holy Spirit, which clothes you in
righteousness. Let the Spirit direct
your path.
For Paul, there is no
confusion, no hopelessness when you’re in Christ…except if you say
you believe, go through the ritual of believers in
worship and fellowship with Christ’s church, but then say the opposite
with a life that is largely unchanged.
In short, Paul lowers the common-sense
hammer: New life is a changed
life.
In Paul’s day, as in ours,
there were plenty of people who claimed they’d been saved, born-again from
above…and, yet, their actions spoke so loudly that no change had taken place,
you cannot help but doubt their words.
Perhaps many were serious…wanting to be included in God’s eternal
glory…but were just not willing to let go of earth’s lust and darkness. It’s strange when you put it out there just
that way, but what else can you say about it?
Well…here’s what Jesus said about it:
And the
judgment is based on this fact: God’s
light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light,
for their actions were evil. All
who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be
exposed. But
those who do what is right come to the light, so others can see that they are
doing what God wants.” John 3:19-21(NLT)
For You Today
If your light has grown a little
dim, and that Christian wardrobe looks a little dated, perhaps it’s time for
renewal. Nobody has to stay
hopelessly confused.
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com
