5)
Mortify
therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6)
For
which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7)
In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8)
But
now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy
communication out of your mouth.
9)
Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have
put off the old man with his deeds;
10)
And
have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him
that created him:
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e
often speak of the knowledge it is necessary we have in order to make it to the
In
that all that the Bible teaches and yes, Jesus lived,
shows the reward of knowing the mind of God and following it and the
consequences of ignoring that Mind, it is obvious that we must have our mind
renewed. This is no small task since the mind of man has been bent on its own
way since the beginning of his time. It is also no small task since the enemy
makes sure to do all that he can to keep us from seeking after and
appropriating the mind of Christ to ourselves.
So,
do we have a way out of this dilemma? Yes, through learning to operate in the
truth. This may sound easy, that is, one seeks the truth, finds it, accepts it
and does it. The "truth" because we have difficulty accepting it, it
is likely impossible for us to do it.
You
see, the "human," being (as opposed to the spiritual) finds it hard to
accept truth about himself because, of necessity, the acceptance of truth leads
to change. When we are uncomfortable with change, we operate more easily in
what and how we feel about ourselves. Perhaps this could be seen as an
operation of faith--you know,
"if-I-don't-believe-that-I-am-that-'bad,'-but-instead,-accept-that-I-am-a-different-person,-maybe-this-will-be-true."
At best, this is misguided "wishful thinking."
What
we are is what we are and our only hope for change is through accepting the
truth about ourselves, desiring to change and putting forth the effort
necessary to do so.
Only
after we know who we are and who we must be can we begin to find out Who God
is. Once we know Who He is, that knowledge can be
applied to ourselves, renewing us from the flawed, fleshly man into the
spiritual man who takes on the image, likeness and nature of Christ.
Too
often, mistakes are made when man receives salvation, but then consults
everyone, but God about how he is to live. If, by becoming saved we were grafted
into the body (family) of Christ, then we must know the "character"
of its Patriarch--Jesus Christ. Only through this, can we know how to conduct
ourselves in order to be a true representation of, and not bring shame to, the
Family.
So, to Whom better to go to learn of God than God, Himself? When we try to "compartmentalize" and understand the Lord, His requirements and/or His will for us through our finite, flawed minds, we come up with the wrong "instruction," for you see, our mind is "at odds" with God.
At
Man's creation, he had not the means that is, the spiritual knowledge to
understand what God wanted. So, in many instances, our
"indiscretions" were "winked at." But, no
more. We have taken hundreds of years and appropriated the Holy Ghost,
so now, its His "how." The Lord wants a
change and He will have it now. We have His Spirit through which we can and
should have gained the knowledge necessary for us to be made into what we must
be in order to carry out the plan of God.
What
is not like God is not profitable and therefore, must be completely erased from
our lives. "All things" (must) become new." What does this
really mean? That as a spiritual man, nothing means (to us)
what it did before salvation. Until and unless we learn this, we cannot
be blessed, for God's people are blessed, to day, by acting in obedience to the
Word of God. How can we be obedient to anything that we feel is harming us? That
is why it is so important for us to start our lives with Christ with a
"clean slate."
Only those who allow themselves to be renewed by the knowledge of Who He is (and therefore, who we are) what He does, how He does it and why will be free to participate in, promote and produce His program. And for what have we been brought into the Kingdom to do, but to glorify Him?