The Necessity for New Believers to Give up Their Old Way of Life for the New One in Christ!

28 Oct 2025 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ephesians 4:24.        And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Ah friends, the chilly days, or rather the chilly nights, seem like they are now here to stay, for the daytime temperature still isn’t too bad when there’s sunshine. Unfortunately though, today the sun is not as powerful as we would like it, thus it’s somewhat cloudy. But as we keep saying, regardless of the weather conditions, once we’re alive and kicking, and living for Jesus, we’re all right! In fact better than all right, we’re wonderful, filled with His LOVE and peace! We can’t ask for anything better than that! 

However, our fellow believers in Jamaica are surely not so well off, as Hurricane Melissa batters their beautiful island paradise. Please, let’s pray for them, that the loss of lives and property will not be too bad, and that godly recovery will begin right away. For a serious hurricane is no matter to joke about, as I can tell from personal experience in 1963, when Hurricane Flora which blew down Tobago much earlier than forecasted and caused enormous damage. 

And today we’re going to talk about believers putting on the new man, as Bruh Paul wrote to the Ephesians. ‘This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity (futility) of their mind. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through (because of) the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness (hardening) of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness (licentiousness), to work all uncleanness with greediness.’ (Eph. 4:17-20) 

Yes my brethren, Bruh Paul there continues to spell out what constitutes a worthy walk of faithful believers in Christ. And the scholars further explain that ‘since each Christian is divinely enabled with some spiritual gift, he must walk not as other Gentiles walk, lest his much-needed contribution to the church’s growth be sorely missed. Unbelieving Gentiles live in the vanity of their mind, without proper purpose, causing all their efforts to obtain happiness to end in failure. 

The blindness of their heart refers to the hardness of their will. Gentiles’ obstinacy against the divine will has caused them to be separated from God’s life. Being past feeling means “having become calloused.” These unbelievers have gone so deep in sin that they are insensitive to moral right and wrong.’ 

And we see that immoral attitude running rampant all over our world today. Very few of us care about moral right and wrong nowadays. The current fashion is to do whatever feels right to us. However that does not apply to true believers in Christ Jesus. As Bruh Paul continues: ‘But ye have not so learned Christ;’ (Eph. 4;20) In other words, we didn’t learn that behaviour of the unbelieving Gentiles in our Christian teaching. 

Instead, ‘If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus. That ye put off concerning the former conversation (conduct) the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.’ (Eph. 4:21-24) 

Now that’s what we’ve been taught in our Christian teaching; to put off the old man, or ‘renounce our pre-conversion life and sins; to be renewed in … your mind, or be constantly changed, being brought more and more into line with God’s viewpoint, as well as to put on the new man, which is to assume a new nature (character) and conduct (life) at conversion.’  

And it’s all well and good to tell us to do that stuff, but how do we do it in real life? But that’s the beauty of most of Bruh Paul’s writing; after giving you some doctrine or task, he usually gives you some practical advice on how to accomplish said task. And here, he does give some practical advice on how to take off the old man and put on the new one. 

‘Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place (an opportunity) to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.’ (Eph. 4:25-32) 

Yes mih people, that’s what our world ought to look like. As the scholars tell us: ‘This section gives practical guidelines as to how “the old man” can be laid aside and how “the new man” can be assumed in daily living. The passage specifies five sins to be discarded, the virtues that are to replace them, and the motive for such exchange: (1) Lying is to be replaced by truth-telling, since Christians are fellow members. (2) Sinful anger is to be replaced by (briefly held) righteous indignation, that the Devil may not be given an opportunity. 

(3) Theft is to be replaced by honest work, so that one may have the means to meet the needs of others. (4) Foul language is to be replaced by gracious speech, that it may edify others and not grieve the Holy spirit. (5) Resentment and wrath are to give way to kindness and forgiveness, since God has forgiven us through Christ’s sacrificial doings.’ 

Now, putting those actions into daily practice will surely take a lot of energy and perseverance, but let’s not forget we have the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. The long and short of the story though is that we sincerely want to make the changes Bruh Paul describes. If we do, then we will succeed, because we will make the effort, and we can do anything through Christ who strengthens us. So, let’s go home declaring our Tuesday Mantra, letting all and sundry know to whom we belong, lock, stock and barrel. 

As one strong and sincere voice: ‘In God’s eyes, I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with my immediate neighbours, as well as with the whole wide world! Glory be!’ 

And having said that, it now behooves us to go out and share the amazing LOVE and friendship of Christ with others, so that they too can come to know and LOVE Him like we do! Much LOVE!

…with the right motives…and godly perseverance…we can do anything that’s in God’s will…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 23 May 2020 1 Samuel 30b.

23 May 2020 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1 Samuel 30b.    ​But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
 

Well friends, it looks like another glorious sunshiny, summer-like day in my neck of the woods! And all God’s people declared a loud and grateful: ‘It’s about time! Praise the Lord!’ Yes my brethren, there’s nothing better we can do than to praise and thank our mighty Creator for all that He’s done for us, is currently doing, and has promised to do in the future. That’s our basic downfall; lack of thanks and prayer and praise! But He doesn’t change; He’s still the long-suffering, LOVING, merciful and gracious God He always was, and always will be. 

We are the ones who change, not Him. So let’s see if we can’t do better in our appreciation of His glorious majesty and magnanimity and obedience to His will nuh, so that we can enjoy even more of His wonderful blessings. Yeh, right now we can certainly use some of His awesome blessings in our fight against the tiny virus that’s got us by our manly parts, (smile) that’s holding us hostage to its every demonic whim and fancy! Ah mih people, I’m glad to see that more and more people are turning to prayer in these troubled times. 

But are we serious, are we truly repentant, or is it just a lark, to see what happens, since we can’t find any real success in our own efforts? Just remember though, that the Lord doesn’t simply listen to the words we spout out of our mouths, no matter how godly and spiritual they sound, but He investigates our hearts to see if we have the right motives, and then considers how to answer our prayer. So if you’re not sincere, don’t pray it. 

And since it’s Saturday, let’s turn to our friend Anselm and see what quotes he sent us this past week, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. And for the second week running, the quotes are negligible. Last week I got one, this week I’ve gotten two. And don’t ask me what’s wrong? It seems like he’s alive, so I don’t know if his fount of quotes has just dried up, (smile) though I doubt it. Anyway, let’s deal with what we have. And the first quote says: ‘Your limitation—it’s only your imagination.’ 

And that’s the gospel truth friends! The limits of our imagination are the only limitation in our lives! Wherever our imagination takes us we can go…with the Lord’s help obviously! Just think about all the wonderful inventions that we’ve enjoyed down through the years; things like the printing press that made books, including the Bible, more easily available, the telephone, telegraph and radio, which made communication so much easier, and our social media and technological revolution right now, which brings almost instant communication. 

They are all products of someone’s imagination! They had the idea, then worked on it, despite many naysayers and discouragers. They might have failed often, but they never gave up, and kept refining their ideas until…Bingo! They worked. Walt Disney was ridiculed, Thomas Edison failed at his numerous inventions several times, but eventually succeeded. So did Henry Ford with his gasoline powered horseless carriage, that eventually became our modern-day motor car. So please my fellow believers, let’s not say we can’t do it, or it’s impossible. If the Lord puts it in our minds, then it’s certainly doable. And furthermore, let’s remember that with God, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE! 

That brings us to our second quote, which nicely resonates with the first. It tells us: ‘Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.’ And to a certain extent that is quite true, but a lot of us are pushed by others, although in many of those cases it’s not in the direction we want to go. The long and short of the story though is that we need to have some basic push and determination for ourselves, especially if we have serious goals that we want to reach or there are wonderful desires that the Lord has placed in our hearts to accomplish for His name’s sake. 

And we have that glorious scripture of Bruh David’s from Psalm 37 which categorically states: ‘Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.’ (Ps. 37:4) Yes friends, when we go with God, He will indeed enable us to fulfill the dreams He’s put in our hearts. And I know that it’s not always easy to find that push, that determination in ourselves, that we all need, for the enemy is always fighting against us. And ofttimes those around us are not willing to push and encourage us either, in fact they might just want to do the opposite, discourage us and pull us down, disparaging our efforts in the difficult process of bringing our dreams to reality. 

But my people, even when we’re at the lowest point, the very ebb of our determination and the last dregs from our fountain of hope, let’s never forget that there’s always One person who’s always there to encourage us, especially if you’re doing His holy will; that’s the Lord God Jehovah, our Creator and wonderful Provider! We never lack for encouragement when we turn to our great God! But that last push has to come from us; we need to turn to him, to sincerely seek Him. 

And the best example of that in the Good Book, I believe is when Bruh David’s men considered stoning him, after they came back from war and found their city of Ziklag burned to the ground by their enemies the Amalekites, and all their kinfolk and worldly possessions taken captive, including Bruh David’s two wives and his children. And everybody; all those brave and mighty men cried like babies. But then, something changed in Bruh David’s men. And the Good Book relates it thus: ‘And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved (bitter), every man for his sons and his daughters…’ (1 Sam. 30:6a) 

So what happened there eh? Why stone their leader eh? Didn’t Bruh David lose his sons and daughters too? Of course! But that’s just the blaming nature of mankind. We always need to find someone else to blame beside ourselves, where often the blame really lies. So imagine Bruh David’s situation now nuh: he’s lost his own family, and his men are threatening to stone him. So what does he do? With everybody against him, he does what we all need to do at times. The Good Book says: ‘But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.’ 

Mama Yo mih bredrin! It doesn’t get any better than that! So please, today, if any of us are suffering the painful pangs of discouragement and lack of hope, let’s do the wise and sensible thing like Bruh David did nuh; let’s turn to our great God and encourage ourselves in Him, for in Him there is always hope and the prospect of peace and joy despite discouraging circumstances. Much LOVE!

…when despair and hopelessness threaten…turn to God…for He’ll surely keep His promise…to comfort and guide you in such times…