I have a soft spot in my heart for a good make over story. Just looking at the before and after photos of someone from the streets receiving a haircut and a fresh set of clothes is enough to make me tear up.
If the outward renewal of a person is so beautiful, how much more so is the inward makeover of a person renewed by faith in Jesus?
In Colossians 3:7-10 – Paul urges believers who have been made new in Christ to live out the new nature they have been given. His argument reveals the radical power of New Testament ethics: you have been made new, start living like it!
- Every saint has a story (verse 7)
- Holy hearts must speak holy words (verse 8)
- New living starts with new thinking (verses 9-10)
When we trust in Christ, our old self is crucified with our savior and a new nature is born.
That means the old ways that feel so close to our identity – pride, greed, lust, etc. – these are no longer who we are. They are just old, ragged clothes that we can shrug off and leave behind.
Our old self released it’s disordered loves into the world through our speech.
But now, in Christ we have a new heart with new loves. Our mouths can become outlets for those loves.
Have you indulged in lust this week? Shake it off! Rejoice in your new identity and throw that sin away like an old stained shirt!
Have you been impatient and angry around the house? That’s not who you are! You don’t have to live like that anymore! Step out of those attitudes like a battered old pair of jeans.
You can leave the old ways behind, because they aren’t you.
You can put on love and purity and peace and honesty today, because that is who you are! You are a saint – dearly loved and spotless in the eyes of God!
Tom Brown is the planting pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Wichita. Tom and his wife, Mandy, have worked together in ministry for over 20 years and have four children. More about Pastor Tom Brown