Put off the old way…

People who immigrate to another country face several challenges. Food differences is one of them. One family still serves what they ate in their former home, but their children like the food in their new country. Another person who has been here several years and applying for citizenship goes to markets for food from her former culture and she will not even try many foods from this new culture.

This illustrates the challenge to change that faces new Christians. We are told to worship God and that we are ambassadors of heaven (our new home) living in this world. While we are here, we are to live according to our new identity, even in how we think, and abandon our former way of life.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2)

Mind renewal means learning to think with the mind of Christ, a wonderful gift from God to enable adjustment to living in this world. The Bible says we must consider it a ‘foreign’ culture compared to our new life in Christ. This is not just about Sundays or meal times but all the time. This is a challenge, even a battle.

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (2 Corinthians 10:3–6)

Complete obedience is a clue to how long this might take. Living in the flesh means governing my own life without considering the will of God. I was nearly thirty when God gave me new life so had many years of living in that ‘culture’ before He changed my citizenship. Learning His ways is one challenge; living them and thinking as He thinks increases the challenge. He says “take every thought captive” and “being ready to punish every disobedience” — which translates into learning and doing to the point that His will becomes as natural and my old way of thinking had been.

This is not about a new snack every now and then to adjust to being a new person. This is a full-meal deal of learning to think how Christ would think if He was in my circumstances. In other words, I’m to feed on Him and be nourished by the true Bread of Life that comes from heaven, not by the old ways of thinking.

When David sinned, he prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10) This is part of it; rejecting that old way and confessing each time I choose it, then asking God to forgive and cleanse me. He tells me to reject all that is sinful:

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (Colossians 3:8–10)

PRAY: Lord, the battle for my mind is also a battle for my habits, even my thoughts. I realize the power of the old self with its subtle yet deceitful desires, and also the need to be continually renewed in the spirit of my mind. I’m so thankful that You tell me to put on the new self, created after Your  likeness but also that You also enable it. With You, every day is a new day for increasing righteousness and holiness.