Our blue spruce was dropping pinecones and needles. The tree doctor took one look at it and explained the problem. “It’s just being a spruce,” he said. I’d hoped for a better explanation. Or a remedy. But the tree man shrugged, saying again, “It’s just being a spruce.” By nature, the tree sheds needles. It can’t change.
Thankfully, our spiritual lives aren’t limited by unchangeable actions or attitudes. Paul stressed this liberating truth to the new believers at Ephesus. The gentiles were “darkened in their understanding,” he said, their minds closed to God. They possessed hardened hearts containing “every kind of impurity,” and sought only after pleasures and greed (Ephesians 4:18-19).
But “since you have heard about Jesus” and His truth, the apostle wrote, “throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life” (v. 22 nlt). Paul noted how our old nature “is corrupted by lust and deception.” He said, “Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (vv. 22-24 nlt).
Then he listed new ways to live. Stop lying. Resist anger. Stop cursing. Quit stealing. “Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need” (v. 28 nlt). Our new self in Christ allows us to live a life worthy of our calling, yielded to our Savior’s way.
By Patricia Raybon
REFLECT & PRAY
What does it mean to put on your “new self”? How can you seek to walk the Savior’s way?
Renew my nature today, dear Jesus, as I yield to become more like You.
As Paul reviews the characteristics of our new nature in Christ, he recognizes there’s a place for anger. He said, “In your anger do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26). Jesus felt anger when He cleared the temple of merchants (Mark 11:15-17; John 2:13-17). Another example occurs in Mark 3:5: “He looked around at [the religious leaders] in anger” because they were concerned that He was about to heal a man on the Sabbath. But Christ didn’t permit His anger to lead to a vengeful reaction. We do well to emulate this kind of anger—anger without sin.
Tim Gustafson
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