A New Construction; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

If we are to grow in the Lord and get beyond merely holding our head up (that is Christ Jesus) so that the whole world will know him, then we are going to need to leave some old ways behind.  We leave these old ways behind so that we might pick up the Way of Christ.  This maturing process is detailed throughout Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, but today we will continue our focus on chapter four.  Read further in chapter four (New Living Translation):

With the Lord's authority let me say this: Live no longer as the ungodly do, for they are hopelessly confused.  Their closed minds are full of darkness; they are far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds and hardened their hearts against him.  They don't care anymore about right and wrong, and they have given themselves over to immoral ways. Their lives are filled with all kinds of impurity and greed. 

But that isn't what you were taught when you learned about Christ.  Since you have heard all about him and have learned the truth that is in Jesus, throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. 

Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes.  You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness – righteous, holy, and true. (Verses 17-24)

Here is the danger of a closed mind:  Learning is no longer possible.  How will we learn the truth that is in Jesus?  Our hearts will harden in our own ways. 

And it is easy to fill a closed mind, but that filler is more likely darkness than anything else.  In the darkness, we will pick up bad habits.  We become callous to the way we live and the way that others live.  To go along with the crowd, we fill ourselves with impurity and greed.  It is amazing to me that something written so long ago seems so current with today’s trends!

Stop it!  Stop these things in your life.  Yes, we come to the kingdom of God as children; but there are still childish ways that we need to leave behind.  These ways are not the ways that Christ teaches.

In truth, we are to throw away these old habits in the garbage pile.  It is rotten through and through.  There is nothing in them worthy of redeeming.  They are nothing but lust shamming as love and deceptions shamming as truth.

But merely throwing these old ways to the side is not enough.  Old habits die hard.  They will return if they are not replaced.  It makes me think of what Jesus said about the person cleansed of an evil spirit.  Though the person is clean, the evil spirit will eventually return with even worse friends if the person does not fill himself / herself with a new way.

We are talking spiritual renewal in the attitudes of our hearts and the thoughts of our minds.  Deep change does not start on the surface.  Deep change begins from within… from being.  Only then can the doing happen.

How do we describe this new way that we are called to?  How do we contrast it to the old way?  That is something that Ephesians has much to teach us.

In this passage, we learn that we leave behind closed minds filled with impurity, greed, lust and deception.  We learn that we pick up the truth in Christ Jesus through open minds.  In this way, we begin to more accurately reflect our heavenly Father… being righteous, holy (that is set apart for God), and true.  There is ever more to learn!

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out