The Old Versus the New

UV 3192/10000 The Old versus the New
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Ephesians 4 v 22
Our old nature before we believed and received Christ into our hearts and lives was corrupted by lusts of the flesh and of the mind. We were deceived like our first father Adam to think that the fulfilment of these desires would make us like God. We were deceived by the liar into lying. Anger, bitterness, envy, pride took root in the human heart due to such deception. But, this uni-verse exhorts us to put on the new man re-born through faith in Christ. Salvation is compared to a full set of clothes or armour that leaves no part of us naked or exposed to the enemy. Salvation or eternal life then is not only the prize that we receive at the end of a life of faith and faithfulness to God’s word but it is our conduct in this world.
Our conduct and our conversation ought to blemishless or blameless. We have to pass our thoughts, our motives, our words, our emotions through several filters provided by the word of God so that the end product is refined and faultless. We may fail often but as long as we repent and try harder depending on the grace of God or His power working in us, we are on track. We should take care not to feed the old man and to feed the new man. Like an iceberg, the old man lies largely submerged and surfaces whenever we let our guard down. The Word acts as a double-edged axe to keep chipping away at the submerged old man and to strengthen and establish the new creation nature in us.
St Paul writes of his own struggle with his old nature. He wrote that “ I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life that I now live, I live by faith in Christ.” This implies that our new life is lived by putting to death our former self and crucifying the lusts and pride of the former self. We no longer live, judge, take decisions based on our senses and our human wisdom but by the wisdom we have through the Holy Spirit in Christ. Like houses that have three phase power connections, we need a three phase power connection with the Triune God in order to live a life of faith in Christ. In the race of life set before us by Christ, speed is not the consideration. Doing better than others is not the consideration. We are to be faithful to our calling and run by His grace in such a way as to complete it. If we complete the race by running patiently, by consistently moving forward in faith, we have won the race.