June 15 - Colossians 3:9-10
“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
Along with the vices from yesterday, Paul follows up with one last … do not lie to each other. And there it is – the final vice that was part of our old selves.
Sometimes I wonder whether or not Paul had any addictions. It’s as if he expects that since he says these things … they are reality. Wouldn’t that be awesome. And he doesn’t say anything without it sounding like it has already happened and things should begin to be good in our lives.
“…since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self.”
Would that it was so easy! I was 13 when I first made the decision – fully understanding everything – to turn my life over to Jesus Christ. I was part of a wonderful movement that was happening – the Lay Witness Mission. Lay members from churches in the region were asked to come to a church for a weekend, give their testimony about how God had changed their lives, lead Bible studies and small group sessions, get to know the people in the church and then on Saturday night there would be a message and an invitation.
I felt cheated somehow because I was pretty much a good girl and didn’t have a radical life change occur. Oh, there were some nasty little sins I could confess, but nothing horrendous. When I woke up on Sunday morning I didn’t really feel any differently than I had when I woke up on Saturday morning! I was really curious about that whole ‘old self / new self’ thing. My life didn’t radically change when I went back to school on Monday, I still encountered the same problems and issues, the same friends and snotty girls. No one else had changed since I left them on Friday afternoon either.
I kept thinking that there was something desperately wrong with my conversion experience and that I was failing God somehow. But, what I didn’t understand at the time was that a beginning had to happen, a conscious choice had to be made. I needed that date set into stone, I needed the knowledge of those moments with God. It was the beginning of a life that was being renewed into the image of God.
At the age of 13, I didn’t have great, grand and glorious sins to confess, nor did I have to make a radical change in my life to become a part of God’s kingdom. What I did have to do was to admit my need for His power in my life so that He could begin the process of a lifetime.
“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
Along with the vices from yesterday, Paul follows up with one last … do not lie to each other. And there it is – the final vice that was part of our old selves.
Sometimes I wonder whether or not Paul had any addictions. It’s as if he expects that since he says these things … they are reality. Wouldn’t that be awesome. And he doesn’t say anything without it sounding like it has already happened and things should begin to be good in our lives.
“…since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self.”
Would that it was so easy! I was 13 when I first made the decision – fully understanding everything – to turn my life over to Jesus Christ. I was part of a wonderful movement that was happening – the Lay Witness Mission. Lay members from churches in the region were asked to come to a church for a weekend, give their testimony about how God had changed their lives, lead Bible studies and small group sessions, get to know the people in the church and then on Saturday night there would be a message and an invitation.
I felt cheated somehow because I was pretty much a good girl and didn’t have a radical life change occur. Oh, there were some nasty little sins I could confess, but nothing horrendous. When I woke up on Sunday morning I didn’t really feel any differently than I had when I woke up on Saturday morning! I was really curious about that whole ‘old self / new self’ thing. My life didn’t radically change when I went back to school on Monday, I still encountered the same problems and issues, the same friends and snotty girls. No one else had changed since I left them on Friday afternoon either.
I kept thinking that there was something desperately wrong with my conversion experience and that I was failing God somehow. But, what I didn’t understand at the time was that a beginning had to happen, a conscious choice had to be made. I needed that date set into stone, I needed the knowledge of those moments with God. It was the beginning of a life that was being renewed into the image of God.
At the age of 13, I didn’t have great, grand and glorious sins to confess, nor did I have to make a radical change in my life to become a part of God’s kingdom. What I did have to do was to admit my need for His power in my life so that He could begin the process of a lifetime.
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