Ephesians 4:17-24 The Old Way Has to Go
17-19 And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.
20-24 But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.
In his letter to the Church at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul reminds God’s family about the necessity of “out with the old and in with the new.” Paul is talking about old ways, behaviors, and ideas that must be left behind now that Christ has made his home in our hearts. In Christ, we are born anew; it is time for new things and new ideas to be released in our lives. These new ideas bring new behaviors. Christ’s love changes how we view everything: deal with our feelings, how we handle our relationships, even how we view our sexuality, etc. As we bow to Christ, the new life grows. It really is a brand new way to live; a clean slate for a God-fashioned life.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for helping me let go of the old, so I can continually reach for the new you have planned for me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.