Learned Christ

Eph. 4:17

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 

When the body has grown itself up into the head, into Christ and is building itself up in love, then it follows logically and spiritually that believers will no longer walk in the futility of their minds as the Gentiles do. They are no longer darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. Their callous hearts become tender, and their unsatisfied sensuality is now satisfied in Jesus. 

However, from the passage it appears that some believers were hanging on to their old life. Was that a problem just for that time? Sadly, this problem is still in existence and even flourishing. Can a believer truly savor what the world is offering? Matt.7 says that we cannot serve and love 2 masters either we will hate the one or love the other, he will be devoted to one and despise the other. There is no peaceful co-existence. Paul explained it in this passage with these words, But that is not the way  you learned Christ-- assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self. How have I learned Christ? Has He ever told me to love Him and the world simultaneously? No! I am to be renewed in the spirit of my mind, putting on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. How beautiful those words are! I can be radically changed in my mind and my body. Through Him, I can put off my old self and live in the new life, a life that reflects the likeness of God. Amazing!

Father,

Through Your grace, strengthen me to put off and put on. Transform my mind so that I make the right decisions from a renewed mind.

In Jesus name,

Amen