More Than a Costume
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 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 4:17-24, ESV
Costumes do more than alter our appearance. Maybe it’s just me but, it seems that a mask or wig and a matching get-up can make someone behave differently. This weekend’s zombie crawl is proof positive that dressing up is not just for kids either. What is the appeal? While not entirely sure let me hazard a guess; we all like to ‘play’ someone else.
And if we aren’t careful, that is how we can read Ephesians 4:17-24; we are being invited to play dress up. Not so! Rather, Paul is pointing to the radical change that can and should come in our lives as those who are IN Jesus. He uses the analogy of taking off and putting on clothes but, he isn’t asking you to switch costumes. God isn’t interested in outward appearance, after all, He hates pretense. What is available to us in Jesus is a new self. The final version of this new self (which if you think about it is your true self) will be revealed only at the end of all things. Even so, in earth’s little while we are to be growing toward this end.
Growth in this way comes in 4 steps:
1. Reject the world’s way of life. Romans 12 urges us not to be ‘conformed to the world’ and so does Ephesians 4. We should not accept as “okay” the things the world deems “okay.” Instead, we have to compassionately see the destructive path the world and its way of life are ensnaring others in every day. We live in an upside down world of morals and cultural norms that flaunt our rebellion from the Creator. And you and I, in Jesus, cannot live that way any longer.
2. Put off the old self. The reality is that our problem is not just nurture (as in the culture around us corrupting us) it is also nature. We are rebels. We are sinners by birth. Rebellion and sin are natural to us. They were in fact the only way we knew how to do life until God intervened. And so, though we have been united with Christ, there is a lot of our old self hanging around still. We must identify ways of thinking or behaving that come from this old self and ditch them.
3. Renew your “thoughts and attitudes” (NLT). When we were rebels, we saw rules as a challenge to our self-fulfillment. “Thou shalt not” became for us an invitation to see how we could do the forbidden. The work we have to do now is to re-program the way we think. God is not a cosmic kill-joy out to spoil our fun. His way is best. Psalm 112:1, “Praise the Lord! How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying his commands.” (NLT) Let that sink deep. Feel that in your soul. Now lather, wash, rinse, repeat. For further reading on this, check out this blog post: Going After God's Best
4. Put on the new self. Actively embrace the new you- the one God created in re-birth. The Jesus-imaging you. But don’t simply modify your behavior. Don’t go for the costume or mask. Let God do a stem cell transplant. Be like Jesus, from the inside out. Pursue this new life you’ve been given at infinite cost to your Creator. Trust that He is your enabling and abiding Savior in the process. Jesus is going to look great on you. And you are going to look best IN Him!
For introspection: Think of one area where the world approves and celebrates breaking God’s standard. How does identifying this area help you as you seek to actively reject the world’ lens? Do you tend toward the ditch of lacking compassion for the broken or turning compassion into license? What is an indicator that you are in one of these ditches? What are good ‘guiderails’ to keep you on the Jesus path?
For WEDnesday Discussion:
· Putting off the old self is a life-long pursuit. In what area(s) do you think you’ve successfully done this work? What is the area of greatest difficulty in doing away with the old self?
· Renewing your mind can be hard work because, no one else can ‘get in’ your head. What is one thought or attitude that you want to renew this week? How will you do it? In the past what worked to change the way you thought about a particular area?
· Putting on the new self is a partnership between you and God. In Philippians 2:12-13, Paul urges, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” So we work and He works. What area(s) do you feel God pressing on, asking for you to work on putting on the new self? How has His work in the past encouraged you regarding the current area under construction? What helps you to endure when the progress seems small or non-existent?