“…that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” – Ephesians 4:22-24

       In chapter 4 of Ephesians, Paul begins his descent from the throne room of Heaven to the living room of the everyday Christian. For three chapters he has explained to us where Christ lives so that he can in turn effectively hit us where we live. This section of scripture is about as practical as you could get when it comes to spiritual things.

       Once we place our faith in Christ, who is the ultimate fulfiller of the Law, we can sometimes live our life with a “blank check” mentality. It is tempting to think that there are no rules for the Christian because we are not under the law, but under grace. But Paul is quick to curb that attitude by encouraging believers to not continue living the way they did before they learned the truth of the Gospel. Many of us eagerly accept Jesus’ words of forgiveness and grace in His statement to the adulteress woman, “Neither do I condemn you.” But we also need to be reminded of the exhortation that followed, “Go, and sin no more.” Or as other translations render it, “Go and leave your life of sin.”

       The thing I find most interesting is that we can sometimes think that God’s holy standard of living has changed now that Jesus has fulfilled the law on our behalf. On the contrary, God still requires holiness from His people, the difference now is that He has provided a way for us to be holy. Jesus didn’t simply take our sins on Himself on the cross, He went a step further by offering us His life. His righteousness. This should not only motivate us, but actually enable us to walk in a way that honors and pleases God.

       In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God accomplished what He had spoken by the prophets hundreds of years before, He had given His people a new heart, and placed a new spirit within them. His Holy Spirit. And Paul tells us in Romans that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead gives life to our mortal bodies!

       From the moment of our conversion, the Spirit goes to work molding us and shaping us. We are no longer our own. We have been purchased by God with the blood of Jesus. The presence of the Holy Spirit is proof of that. This is something that all Christians wrestle with each day, which is why we are miserable when we try to do things our own way. Our habitual, sinful behavior is now incongruent with our new nature. Our own attempts at behavioral modification will always fall short, which is why the Spirit is the one who needs to do the work. But we do have a part to play – we need to yield to the Spirit’s work.

       How do we grieve the Holy Spirit? By not allowing Him to do the work. If we are constantly reverting back to our former conduct, then we are essentially bringing the Spirit of God back into the tomb and confessing that we are still dead to sin. Paul says that when you become a Christian you should no longer walk in your old way of sin because those who do alienate themselves from the life of God. There should be a clear distinction between our new life and our old life. It may be time for a little spiritual spring cleaning. A time to say “Out with the Old, and In with the New.”

“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:31-32