What makes a follower of Jesus different? Obviously we have the spirit of God dwelling within us.  We also still have our sin nature leading us to the desires of our flesh.  We have the teachings of Jesus and His word to guide us in how to live and we are called to live lives of love.  Let’s look at what Ephesians 4 has to say to us about living a different life. 

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 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; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

We are reminded to put off our old selves, be made new in the attitude of the mind, and put on the new self.  Let’s look at those three things today.  Putting off our old selves is simple in concept but can be difficult at times.  If you set a goal to eat healthy and then sit in a house filled with junk food most likely you will eventually slip up.  The same is true in our lives when it come to our “old self”.  What and who we surround ourselves with helps us to put off the old self.  This also is true when it comes to the attitude of our minds.  What we fill ourselves with affects our attitude and mindset.  Reading Scripture, listening to worship music, prayer, and fellowship with fellow Christians are all ways we can renew our minds and set them on Jesus.  This attitude adjustment also helps us to put on the new self as way.  We find that more and more we are living by the spirit and less by the flesh.  As humans we will always struggle, but by God’s grace and through His strength there is hope that we can live the lives Jesus calls us to live. 

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave