Grow Up - 2
Epistle to the Ephesians
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:17-24
My mother was raised in a family with three sisters and an older brother. She was the middle child. Her father had been raised Catholic, and her mother had been raised Methodist. Her father was excommunicated since he married outside the faith. As a result, the family was neither Catholic nor Methodist. She allowed her maternal grandparents to take her to the Methodist church every Sunday. Her home would have been a perfect example of what Paul was talking about in this passage, “living as the Gentiles do.” Her dad was an alcoholic, who raised an alcoholic, whose daughters didn’t have an example to follow when choosing husbands. “Darkened in their understanding,” perfectly describes their homelife. No abuse in the home, but she mentioned that “when dad was drinking, you walked carefully.” It was the darkened thinking that separated them from God.
Mom dated a young man during her high school years who treated her very respectfully and came from a very wealthy family. Her family adored him and wanted her to marry him. There was one problem, mom desired not to continue to live in a home where that former way of life would follow her. She wanted no part of alcohol in her future, and she wanted Christ to be part of her home. Even though this man treated her well, she knew he drank when he wasn’t with her and he was not a Christian. She refused to marry him.
You must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
Christians are often spoken of as narrow minded when the reality is that Christ opens and clears the mind. Living with no standards does not open the mind. An open mind sees there are ways of living that produce consequences contrary to God’s very best. An open mind sees clearly. An open mind is a matter of heart and mind that is open to ever wider insight and imagination. An open mind leads us to a recognition that we need a new mind and attitude – a new self, born of God, to be like God in righteousness and holiness. This is the opposite of an old mind that is corrupted by deceitful desires or an old mind that is darkened in its understanding, full of ignorance, and a heart that is hard. An open mind does not mean accepting the old Gentile way of living. No! Exactly the opposite.4
Paul wants them to embrace the original teaching of Christ – to be born of the Spirit – to experience the new birth. To embrace this original teaching of Christ means their minds and hearts will be changed and redirected to be made like Christ. We were created for righteousness and holiness!
Paul reiterates this message in Romans chapter twelve, verse two:
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
Be transformed! I love that! Apart from God my life and thinking becomes futile. When I lose focus on Christ, I’m like Peter who stepped out of the boat and saw the water and waves and began to sink. “Lord, save me!” he cried.
Without Christ my thinking becomes darkened, I lack clarity, my heart becomes hard, and I lose sensitivity to all that is righteous and holy.
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do,
Paul is telling them to grow up. In order to grow up they must set aside their old thinking patterns – put off the old self. Don’t live a life separated from God but rather put on the new self and a new way of thinking.
By the way, my mom left home to go to college, met my dad and had 60 years of a really wonderful marriage.
Put on the new self.