Ephesians 4:17-24
17) This
I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18) Having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
19) Who
being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all
uncleanness with greediness.
20) But
ye have not so learned Christ;
21) If
so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in
Jesus:
22) That
ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according
to the deceitful lusts;
23) And
be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24) And
that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness.
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often, we find ourselves calling up aspects of our past. Now, perhaps as never
before, we are being admonished to renew our spiritual mind. Sometimes, in
order to keep our minds focused, it is necessary to remind ourselves of how far
God has brought us. However, it always seems as if Man remembers his bad
experiences more easily and readily than his good. Unfortunately, this
prohibits us from truly giving glory and praise unto the God who saved us.
What
we are experiencing in this day and at this time is a proliferation of
backsliding by those who have been brought out only to fall away. This is particularly disheartening when one remembers (realizes)
that many have been “victims” of the preaching and teaching of non-spiritual
humanistic doctrine. When one is taught only the natural, he will hardly rise
above it, but will, in fact, revert back to it.
All
about us, it seems, the desire to sincerely serve the Lord is being lost. How
does this happen? Is it something that one has and just loses, or is there a
more logical explanation? Well, basically one’s attention becomes occupied and
hence, he becomes distracted by things other than those that promote a standard
of holiness. This type of preoccupation will always cause one to drift away
from a spiritual life with God.
It
is not possible for redeemed man to pick up pre-salvation interests and remain
saved. Why? Because all that we do after salvation is to lead to holiness. If
it does not, we find ourselves thinking old thoughts and dwelling on dead
works.
So,
the age-old question is “What do I do if I find myself preoccupied?” The answer
is that one needs to renew the spiritual mind given to him upon salvation. More
than one person has found himself entertaining the thought that just maybe what
I was and what I did before salvation was not that bad. Obviously, this would
not be a God-inspired thought, but a trick of the Enemy to minimize the power
of salvation. If we are to be able to convince one of their need
of salvation, we can have no question as to what God has done, both for us and
mankind. Most importantly of all, you must fully comprehend exactly what the
Lord had to do to save you.
Because
God does not operate arbitrarily (that is, His every act, every thought and
every deed is significant), He does not indulge in frivolous requests. That is,
whatever He requires us to do or give up has merit. If it did not, He never
would have asked.
One’s
mind is continually renewed as one progresses in the Lord.
You see, no one learns everything of God immediately. Our growth (that is, what
He reveals of Himself) is a process. However, that process does not involve
sin. We grow outside of sin. For you see, it was sin which “retarded” man in
the very beginning.
Contributing
to one’s growth is the strength of one’s commitment. Unlike some commitments,
one’s dedication to God cannot be temporary. There is no power in temporarily
committed, not uncommitted life. For you see, the power of the dedicated life
results from the ability to stand and declare the whole counsel of God.
In
that Jesus has died for our salvation, it is necessary for us to show our
appreciation of what He has done by bringing someone else in. The only way to
effectively do this is to remain unaffected by the trials of our lives, and
this is possible only by focusing on what God wants from our lives. We can
never afford to get to a place where we cannot remember what we used to be.
Verse
17 of our text scripture reminds us that unsaved man walks after his own
thinking. As we have often said, most unsaved people feel that their “reality”
consists of their problems. For the saint of God, such things are not reality.
Reality is the fact that we are victorious overcomers—in
the Spirit. The only reality with which the Lord concerns Himself is victory
and triumph. Likewise, we should need no other reality.
Part
of accepting the renewal of one’s mind is accepting just exactly how dangerous
the old one was. Until we understand that there was and is no good thing in the
flesh (or fleshly mind), we will continue to trust it. This we cannot do.
Everything about one must be changed upon salvation. The only way to change
one’s walk is to change one’s way of thinking. Once it becomes elevated to the
level God requires, our life, too will be elevated.
We
have the guarantee of a supernatural life if we will only operate in the
spiritual mind. All things are possible for us and nothing can hinder us. This
is the reason the devil works so hard at keeping us bound in fleshly things.
You see, he accepts what we do not. Too often, we believe that our “senses”
number only five, while he knows that the sense of the
spiritual being are unlimited.
“Renewing
your spiritual mind” is not a matter of choice—it is a matter of your spiritual
life—or death.