Being True about The True You
and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.
Ephesians 4:23–27 ESV Read More
There is no hocus-pocus to putting off our old selves and letting God’s life show up and flow out of us. Just as our old selves that were separated from Christ showed it by lying, cheating, stealing, manipulating, lusting, and fighting, our new lives will show off our inside life too. Our new lives reflect God and His holiness in the midst of a fallen and broken world.
The clearest display of Christ’s life in us is in our identity. A person’s identity is often one of the least clear things in the world, but here’s what I mean. Many times the things that happen to us or the things we do begin to define who we are. He’s a race car driver. She’s a physical therapist. Already, by saying those things, you size up and have the prejudice about what those people are. You transfer that what into a who and the identity you just put on that person is straight from your own imagination of what a race car driver or physical therapist is.
When Christ is our life, our source of identity changes. Whether I’m a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker, doesn’t change the fact that deeper down I’m an adopted Son of God in Jesus. That’s where the falsehood gets blown away like a bunch of dust. If you are one of the adopted children of God, you don’t have to act like someone you aren’t. You have the freedom to be yourself and from there, let God make you into a new person. True righteousness and holiness is a walk of life that is free from the vain chase for acceptance in which we once walked and a peaceful rest in God.
From there, we speak truth to each other. We are honest about who we are, how we are doing, and how God is growing us. In that humble honesty, we can even be mad at each other. Being mad doesn’t mean we have to hate, destroy, have vengeance, leaving the church in bitterness, dis-invite family for Thanksgiving or anything like that. We can speak openly and honestly to one another for the sake of reconciliation. When a husband and wife stop in the middle of an argument, often times the solution is clear: You should have mowed the grass before watching the game. When we try to put across an identity that we aren’t (I’m not lazy, the game was important) we aren’t being true and we’re hiding our identity.
When we are honest about who we are: a new self, created in the likeness of God— we are able to be angry, have conflict, and not sin against each other. That is the new, honest, life in Christ. That is the path out of anger and into peace.
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