“Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness.” Ephesians 4:24 NIV.
Success over the flesh flows from an uncompromised obedience to God.
My thoughts and comments today are about “your new self.”
Old habits are hard to break; every repetition strengthens habitual behavior. Break the learned patterns. What have become triggers for your habitual behaviors such as: doubt, worry, fear, anger, discontent, unforgiveness, or similar patterns of reactive behavior? Ever just want to be free to start over again? God speaks truth that sets you free. At so many times and in many situations, you will wrestle with what is easiest to do or what is best to do. Most frequently, you will be tempted to take the easy path, the path of least resistance.
Your natural self and your better self are competitive, even combative. Your natural self is not much for which to be proud. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another.” Galatians 5:17 NKJV. Every day, you determine which one will succumb and which will triumph – your natural self which the Bible calls “the flesh,” or your better self which is redeemed and empowered by “the Spirit.” The one you prefer prevails on every occasion. Paul correctly reasons, “Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16 NKJV.
Self-interest, self-indulgence, and self-preservation are automatic and natural defaults. The wrong thing seems the easiest thing to do but is never the right thing, however appealing to you or applauded by others. Paul voiced his own, and every man’s struggle this way: “For I have a desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out . . So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me . . Who will rescue me from this body of [spiritual] death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Read Romans 7:18-25 NIV. Religion alone is never enough; your best efforts will fail; but God within you is victorious. The Holy Spirit happily abides wherever Jesus is Lord.
The good news is this; “You, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives within you.” See Romans 8:5/9 NIV. Doing what you must requires not doing what you otherwise would. And Jesus Christ is the answer, the only answer to your ability to do so. The Bible is clear, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness . . which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Ephesians 4:22-24/Colossians 3:10 NIV. Read that again – “. . created to be like God in true righteousness.”
Success over your old self flows from an uncompromised obedience to God. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV. Let’s hear it for your new self in Christ. In Christ, new beginnings abound. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:1-2 NIV.
My prayer for you today is that you will conquer the old patterns and embrace the new.