OMG - Jesus

Do you know Him?

God came to earth as a man, Jesus!

  • About OMG
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Key Truths …in the Bible
  • Key Verses …in the Bible
You are here: Home / Christian Life / Put on the new

Put on the new

September 6, 2018 by Keith Swift Leave a Comment

What is a “Christian”?  A person becomes a Christian by accepting Christ as Savior and Lord and thus becomes born again (yea!).  Then, we begin following Christ.  This involves beginning to actually live what Christ taught.

As a privileged species (read about the DVD) normal humans must come to the knowledge of our Creator, and the saving knowledge of Christ.  Then, having been “born again”, Christians start new life in Christ, spiritually new, babies, toddlers learning to walk spiritually.

I am so grateful Jesus saved me.  What a work of grace that is – for Holy God to save any “sinner”.  Some sweet day — we’ll actually reach Heaven, but we’re not there yet!

As expressed in Ephesians 4, the actual next steps we begin making as His followers are to

“put off your old self” and “put on the new self“.

It’s not automatic.  God does not do it for us.  It is on us to “be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind” (v23), by allowing the Holy Spirit to empower us, and renew us. 

Take on the challenge.  Put it on!  Nobody else will.  Being renewed continually is part of following Christ.  The normal Christian life spiritually works constantly to be “having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude” – every day (v23).  Here’s that Ephesians passage.

Ephesians 4:22-24    Amplified Bible (AMP)

22 that, regarding your previous way of life,
you put off your old self
[completely discard your former nature],
which is being corrupted through deceitful desires,

23 and be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind
[having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude],

24 and put on the new self
[the regenerated and renewed nature],
created in God’s image, [godlike]
in the righteousness and holiness of the truth

[living in a way
that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation].

We all live someway, somehow.  We make choices.  The way we live our life, how we live it – expresses something. What is your living expressing?  Does the way you live express to God “your gratitude for your salvation“? (v24)

Living as you were before Christ.  Paul says that living as you were before Christ – is way NOT what is natural for someone “in Christ”.

The first question if living like that, is to settle this: Are you truly “in Christ”?  Because if you are not “in Christ” then you are still way NOT saved, but still under condemnation.  Additional Reading – about being saved: Practicing Sin – Not Following Christ  and Sinners, versus Living in Sin.

Living like an unbeliever. 
The Apostle Paul warns us about living “as the [unbelieving] Gentiles live“:


Ephesians 4: verses 17-19
you must no longer live as the [unbelieving] Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds [and in the foolishness and emptiness of their souls],
18 for their [moral] understanding is darkened and their reasoning is clouded; [they are] alienated and self-banished from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the [willful] ignorance and spiritual blindness that is [deep-seated] within them, because of the hardness and insensitivity of their heart. 19 And they, [the ungodly in their spiritual apathy], having become callous and unfeeling, have given themselves over [as prey] to unbridled sensuality, eagerly craving the practice of every kind of impurity [that their desires may demand].


Why they live that way.  Paul says that, because of “the hardness and insensitivity of their heart” (v18), this is what characterizes the “unbelieving”: (Ephesians 4: verses 17-19)

futility of their minds
foolishness and emptiness of their souls
their [moral] understanding is darkened
their reasoning is clouded
[they are] alienated from the life of God
[they are] self-banished from the life of God
with no share in it (the life of God)
[willful] ignorance is [deep-seated] within them
[willful] spiritual blindness is [deep-seated] within them
the hardness and insensitivity of their heart.
spiritual apathy
callous and unfeeling
have given themselves over [as prey] to unbridled sensuality
eagerly craving the practice of every kind of impurity [that their desires may demand]

So, in other words, what Paul is saying here is that:
Individuals CHOOSE not to follow Jesus
because their heart is hard and insensitive to God (v18):
(Ephesians 4: verses 17-19)

  1. They live according to the futility of their mind
  2. They live according to their empty, foolish soul
  3. Their moral understanding is darkened
  4. Their reasoning is clouded
  5. They are alienated from the life of God
  6. They are self-banished from the life of God
  7. They are willfully ignorant (ignorance that is deep-seated in their inner soul)
  8. They are spiritually blind (blindness that is deep-seated in their inner soul)
  9. They are this way because their heart is hard and insensitive.

They therefore have no share in the life of God.  “Because of the hardness and insensitivity of their heart” they reject God (v18).  They are hard-hearted:

Some of the meanings of “Hard-hearted“: incapable of being moved to pity or tenderness; unfeeling. Synonyms: unfeeling, heartless, cold, hard, callous, unsympathetic, uncaring, unloving, unconcerned, indifferent, unmoved, unkind, uncharitable, unemotional, cold-hearted, cold-blooded, mean-spirited, stony-hearted, having a heart of stone, as hard as nails, cruel. – Google

We are exhorted by Paul that we “must no longer live as the [unbelieving] Gentiles live.”

regarding your previous way of life,
…put off your old self (v22)

“Put on the new” Paul says.   The Christian Spirit-filled life requires us to actively “put off”, “be continually renewed”, and “put on”.  Ours is a proactive life.  Former ways of living contrary to God’s will for us – need to be resisted, and “put off”.

Following Christ is not an easy road.  It is full of decisions we must make – in order to be faithful to Christ in all our ways.

Ephesians 4: verses 20-24
20 But you did not learn Christ in this way! 21 If in fact you have [really] heard Him and have been taught by Him, just as truth is in Jesus [revealed in His life and personified in Him],

22 that, regarding your previous way of life, you put off your old self [completely discard your former nature], which is being corrupted through deceitful desires,

23 and be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude],

24 and put on the new self [the regenerated and renewed nature], created in God’s image, [godlike] in the righteousness and holiness of the truth [living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation].

First, Paul exhorts us: How did you learn Christ?  Have you indeed really heard Him? Is change happening inside and outside yourself?  Is God more and more a part of who you are?

Second, our former nature needs to be “completely discarded”.  “Put off your old self” (v22).  It is being corrupted “through deceitful desires”.  We need to examine what we are desiring, and make sure our desires are not from our old nature. Be careful what you desire, what you want to do.  What do you allow your mind to dwell on?

“What we desire, we soon acquire.
What we want to do, we soon find we did.”

Third, “be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind” (v23).  Our mind and spirit need constant refreshing.  The world, the flesh, and the Devil are constantly making war on our “mental and spiritual attitude”.

Fourth, as we work with the Lord to be renewed, we “put on the new self” (v24)… “living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation.”  It is only as we choose to constantly abide in Christ that we are then able to “put on” –  “the righteousness and holiness of the truth”.

John 15:4    Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

This process is normally not seen as a straight line graph upward.  Paul says “Be continually renewed” – because… we continually need it.

Personal maturity is a little by little growth pattern where we learn to depend more and more on the Spirit of God.  Are we perfect, without sin? (I don’t see any hands raised.) No.  Spiritual living has its ups and downs.

What Paul calls “the spirit of your mind” – is your “mental and spiritual attitude”.  Is it stained with sinful ways of thinking?  This world is a filthy muddy meadow.  And we walk this meadow.  That is why we need a continual “refresh”… so our mental attitude is fresh and “untarnished”.

Pliable clay in The Potter’s Hands

2 Corinthians 13:11-14   (AMP)
11 Finally, believers, rejoice! Be made complete [be what you should be], be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace [enjoy the spiritual well-being experienced by believers who walk closely with God]; and the God of love and peace [the source of lovingkindness] will be with you.

12 Greet one another with a [a]holy kiss. 13 All [b]God’s people greet you.

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.


Paul exhorts me (us) to work with The Potter (Isaiah 64:8; Romans 9:21).  Each day He molds me and makes me more and more of what I uniquely should be in Christ.   “Be what you should be” (v11) and enjoy spiritual well-being here, now, Paul says.  And when God calls me home, some sweet day — then I’ll reach my final destination!


FOR MORE:

Enjoy spiritual well-being

Distracting Meaningless Things

Playing With Sin

Practicing Sin – Not Following Christ

Sinners – Versus – Living In Sin

Put it on

Put this on

Post Views: 30

Filed Under: Christian Life Tagged With: Ephesians 4:17-24, former nature, gratitude, John 15:4, put off, put on, renewed, spiritual well-being

About Keith Swift

Created by God, born to die, born again, now living forever with Creator God - soon to be in His Home. Forgiven forever, still learning to live in Christ.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About OMG  |  Facebook OMGjesus  |  FAQ
QUICK LINKS:
 Salvation in Christ is beyond huge - He will go before me - God Is Not Distant - My Heinous Heinous Ways - Seeing change in your heart - About Heaven - Lost I Came To Him - This is salvation in Christ - That Moment in Time - Admitting I was wrong - Titus on: What the Word of God Teaches - Making God - I Look Oh My God - One Human Race - Puny Humans - Following - What Jesus stands for - Which Jesus do you serve? - Is Jesus’ worldview your worldview? - Getting Born Again - Saving Knowledge - Losing My Soul - My best day here - Vortex of Good & Evil - Living the good life with courage and confident hope - Fear This - Punishment and Reward - Degrees of Sin - Are you filthy or beautified? - Habits of Love

"Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock." - Isaiah 26:4 (NLT)


About the End Times (a series)
Do not fear, I will help you - Be cautious and active in faith - Maintain yourself faithful – out of loyalty to Christ - When we face difficult times in our life - First Apostasy, then Antichrist, then the Rapture - We are now in “Birth Pangs” times, and then ...the End - “What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” - Oh what a day that will be! - What joy and exhilaration - soon - Divine Mysteries Revealed by the Godman Jesus

About False Teaching
(a series)
Getting down to God’s meaning - Calling out false teaching - Jesus, the second man, is the Lord from Heaven  - 2 Timothy 4:3 - Needing something more than Jesus - Post New Apostolic Reformation Reflections by Rick Becker - Counterfeit spirit of god - They in fact have seen nothing - Two NAR Organizations to Watch from hollypivec.com; Holly Pivec - Our response to “Apostle” Randy Clark’s interview with Remnant Radio - False Prophets: A Study in the Scriptures by Diane S. Dew -
Examples of false doctrines - Search results for: false teachers  - Following the Jesus who was not God

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” - Luke 10:27

Most Recent Posts

  • Living a forever life – now February 2, 2023
  • Ways to lose it with God February 1, 2023
  • The Dangers of Consorting With Error January 27, 2023
  • The Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul January 26, 2023
  • Are you “contrary” – not conforming to the Gospel? January 25, 2023
  • The Great Water Down of Jesus’ Message to us all January 25, 2023
  • Until the rapture door is shut January 25, 2023
  • Abortion blessings? January 12, 2023
  • Will you be turned away by Jesus? January 11, 2023
  • Jesus waited 1,952 years for me January 11, 2023
  • Denying Jesus? January 10, 2023
  • Making God Speak January 9, 2023
  • How far will you go to stay faithful to Jesus? January 5, 2023
  • Turn shame into repentance December 21, 2022
  • After that moment of passing December 20, 2022
  • The Redemption of God December 12, 2022
  • Disappointing Mistakes of Don Stewart’s “35 Common Mistakes” December 8, 2022
  • When it comes to God, who wants mere opinions? December 6, 2022
  • Passing on through to the other side December 6, 2022
  • Hell will have degrees of punishment December 5, 2022
  • Wrapped in unselfish love November 29, 2022
  • We know the will of God in this November 24, 2022
  • Significance – what Jesus gives us November 22, 2022
  • Why on earth will God accept you, a sinner? November 20, 2022
  • Believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One November 16, 2022
  • Satan’s progressively degenerate agendas November 14, 2022
  • How a tare thinks November 10, 2022
  • Don’t tell me how to think! November 7, 2022
  • Salvation in Christ is beyond huge November 7, 2022
  • I am almost perfect October 27, 2022

Categories

  • Angels
  • Bible Studies
  • Bible-lite
  • Bible: New Testament
  • Bible: The Bible Says
  • Biblical Inerrancy
  • Christian Life
  • Christianity
  • Counseling and Exhorting
  • Creation
  • Cults
  • Damnation
  • Death
  • Devotionals
  • Divorce
  • DVD-movies
  • Early Church
  • Education
  • Evidence
  • Faith
  • False Teachings
  • Forgiveness
  • God
  • Heaven
  • Hell
  • Hermeneutics
  • Holy Spirit
  • Interpreting
  • Investigate
  • Islam
  • Jesus the Christ
  • Key Truths …in the Bible
  • Key Verses …in the Bible
  • Leadership
  • Marriage
  • Muslim
  • Parenting
  • Poetry, Sayings, and Words
  • Popular Culture
  • Prayer
  • Prophets and Prophecy
  • Repentance
  • Research
  • Salvation
  • Science
  • Series
  • Sin
  • Spiritual Warfare

Random Post:

Search This Site

Utilize the Search capability of this website (upper right corner of this site) to find specific topics…

Bentley – News on Todd Bentley

The charismatic movement has been troubled by unbiblical practices and teachings. I am amazed at how folks are so easily mislead. “Many have exchanged the truth for a lie and chosen experience over content.” Look and examine and see, and compare with what the Bible teaches.

False Prophets

“You may be asking yourselves, “How can we tell if a prophet’s message really comes from the Lord?”” -Deuteronomy 18:21. How can we distinguish the true from the false?

No Faith In Heaven

Faith will not be necessary in heaven. Faith and hope will be ¨done away¨with (1 Corinthians 13:v8). When we finally are brought into His Kingdom, instead of on this earth with His Holy Spirit, then we will have Him, not just merely faith and hope.

Christian Answers Regarding Islam

Christian Answers Regarding Islam 1. The Koran purports it does not contradict the Bible but supports it. The Koran declares that it was written to confirm the previous revelations and not to replace the Bible according to Sura 5:48 which says, “And We have sent down to you the Scripture with truth, authenticating what is […]

Biblical Homosexuality

…a Christian´s Perspective on Homosexuality Quoted from: http://www.indegayforum.org/news/show/31489.html Donny | April 18, 2008, 11:33am | # I’m up to the challenge of gay theology questions: In-hospitality towards others and “haughtiness” were the sins of Sodom. But Ezekiel is quite explicit about sexual sins being front and center as well. “Haughtiness” and the word “Gay” as […]

Inexplicable Joy

Heaven is a joyful place. That is hard for me to imagine… Everywhere I look around me, I see so many problems, issues and unresolved conflicts. But in heaven, they won’t exist anymore. There will only be joy because my sins have been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ.  One of the main things that describes being in heaven is JOY. The word “joy” has a much deeper meaning than just happiness. To be happy can change so quickly. It can come and go in a moment. But joy…

Letter to Danny

We are continually bombarded by the fiery darts of the Evil One.  And when these little pricks hit us, we need to put-out the flames, quickly. Doubts, depression, feelings of inadequacy, troubles, unruly kids…, when they come at us, we “have to declare” the truths of God, and  we have to choose Truth over lies. 

Children’s Bible in a Nutshell

A quick overview of the Bible (tongue-in-cheek) -Author Unknown Too good to miss! Subject: Judas Asparagus (also read story here: https://darrellcreswell.wordpress.com)    A child was told to write a book report on the entire Bible.  The Children’s Bible in a Nutshell:  In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, […]

About Biblical Inerrancy

Would God give us erroneous documents and call them “His”? Dumb idea! God brought everything together to form the Bible. Evidence is overpowering as you read what the Bible is, and what it tells us. “It is the history of the Bible that makes it unique among ‘sacred texts.’ See who wrote the Bible, how its reportive style is backed by archeology and historians…” – Quote from “Why You Can Believe the Bible” (www.everystudent.com).

More Random Posts

  • Denying Jesus?
  • Making God Speak
  • How far will you go to stay faithful to Jesus?
  • Turn shame into repentance

Tags

believe Bethel bible born again choice choose Christ condemnation confidence creation death end times eternity evidence FAITH faithful false teachers fear follow following forgiven forgiveness God grace heaven hell Holy Spirit hope Jesus love NAR New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) practice prayer Rapture repent repentance resurrection Salvation Satan saved sin sincerity time truth

Featured Post

Oh what a day that will be!
Wow! To enter into the Kingdom of God - freely as His redeemed child. No cringing in shame, no burden of sinfulness before Almighty Holy God. I can only imagine.

Jesus, the second man, is the Lord from Heaven
"The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.” In 1 Corinthians 15:47 the Apostle Paul explained that Jesus, while on earth, was absolutely God-man.  He was not a mere man, ever.

There Is Only One God
Getting tired of people flippantly saying, ¨Oh my god!¨ Ever wonder who their ¨god¨ is!? Does that ¨god¨ know he is ¨theirs¨? Do you say that? We are quite the god-makers, are we not! What do you mean…“your God”?

God Is Not Distant
God is not some far away, distant-from-you, dis-concerned bubble of energy, inside some aura of mist on a mysterious planet far far away…. “And the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” –Psalm 121:8

When it comes to God, who wants mere opinions?
When talking “God” and “Truth” – I really do not care what you think. You should not care what I think. What matters is “what God thinks”.
Lost I Came To Him Oh the wonder of that love of our fathomless Creator, to save me in spite of my self-centered soul. Lost and rebellious, He chose me. Pursued and wooed, what mystery – grace. I said yes to Creator God. To know…
Time as it really is Since Heaven is not regulated by time, the passage of time on earth is a separate event. *We will all step out of time together – into God’s presence, with no “time lag”,…The time it takes to go from earth to God's presence - is instant. There is no waiting around in the next dimension for earth time to finish, no midway point of gathering, no Purgatory. It will be an instantaneous experience for all mankind that ever lived. At the moment of death, our soul instantly leaves....

No Tolerance for Error
God is not sloppy nor wishy-washy.... There is no room at all – for error – when it comes to being right with God. You are either all in, or you are all out. Are you sure you’re in?

Simple View of Life  a simple view of everything. God of Everything that is – created everything. We are very fortunate that He is loving and kind, and really, really wants us.
Ashamed of Yourself?
Ever done something you are ashamed of?  Come on now, you’re sitting there by yourself – ‘fess-up.  Nobody listenin’ to your brain confess.  So... Yes?  Scenario: “You have? What!?
Being Christian What's it like these days to be a Christian? Really a Christian. For many, what the Bible teaches is generally okay, but, when it comes to certain specificities, what it says, they reason, needs to be interpreted in the light of today's enlightened realities. But -- will that work in - The End - when we stand before Him, physically? Stop and think about that Day.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow is the fool’s day. Tomorrow may never come. I may not get older. This may be it. 3.18.2017
Vortex of Good & Evil As mere humans, we are engulfed in the vortex of battle between good and evil. We must remember – it is God who created us, not we ourselves.  1.25.2017
What God has going on with us here on this planet.
God downloaded to earth ...inserted Himself into our history.  Jesus came to earth in order to satisfy the Courts of Heaven for our freedom. 3.23.2016

Cognitive Dissonance
...that extreme feeling of discomfort some folks get when their core belief is challenged or contradicted. What they think (“cognitive”) is rattled (dissonance) by what other evidences purport to be true – in direct conflict with what they hold to be “true”.  8.14.2018
Actually Try To Do The Deed 3.23.2016   “It’s not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better."

What God Did for Man
…The Simple Gospel of Jesus Christ. God walked the earth as a man. Have you ever wondered how it all got started – the universe, the earth, nature, animals, you and your “like”, mankind? 2.19.2018
The Bible is “able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation”
Do you honestly want to know how to get right with God?  Jesus promised He would save us for an eternity of only good, nothing bad. 9.31.2020  
 

Most Viewed Posts

  • Vile To Jesus
  • Ashamed of Yourself?
  • The Passion Translation (TPT) and why not to use it
  • Befuddled and Besmirched
  • That Day of Judgement
  • Getting Born Again
  • Jesus Knows Your Thoughts
  • That Moment In Time
  • The Confuscating John Pavlovitz
  • Saving Knowledge
  • Following
  • My Heinous Heinous Ways
  • Inexplicable Joy
  • Examples of false doctrines
  • Signs of an unrepentant heart
  • Me, When I Die, still in sin
  • I would rather stand with God and be judged by the world. Yes!
  • Me, When I Die, forgiven
  • God’s System of Justice
  • Brand New Creature
  • Practicing Sin, Not Following Christ
  • Why Believe Such Stupididiotic Things?!
  • God Damned “Believers”
  • Windows Into Heaven
  • Context, Context, Context!

Most Recent Posts

  • Living a forever life – now
  • Ways to lose it with God
  • The Dangers of Consorting With Error
  • The Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul
  • Are you “contrary” – not conforming to the Gospel?
  • The Great Water Down of Jesus’ Message to us all
  • Until the rapture door is shut
  • Abortion blessings?
  • Will you be turned away by Jesus?
  • Jesus waited 1,952 years for me

Categories

Archives

Living a forever life – now

Eternal life blessed by God forever — begins the moment you bow your knee in repentance and give Him all of your heart. You saved?

Ways to lose it with God

Living and leaving God behind? That is easy. Try something a little more challenging: Live to please God Almighty – in everything you do! Now that is a worthy challenge. And the prize at the end is more than adequate for your focus.

The Dangers of Consorting With Error

To be faithful to Christ, we cannot mix Jesus plus something.  It’s like mixing water with oil.  That’s a messy mix. There is contradiction and opposition between the two.The same goes for anything in life: To stay true and faithful to Jesus we absolutely must deny that which denies Christ. 

The Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul

Do you know the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul?  Is that what you follow? Study to know the real thing — so you’ll recognize the counterfeit when it’s put in your face.

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in