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, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 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.

Ephesians 4-22-25

On Sunday afternoon, Patrina and I listened to a sermon based on the seventh chapter of Romans as the pastor challenged those who listened that too many of us fail to hate our sinful nature. Instead, we minimize the temptations we face and in the end, we pay the price.

In the verses above, Paul challenges the church in Ephesus to do more than recognize the darkness in the world around us, we are to abandon and “put off your old self” because the old life is nothing but lies.

Instead, we are to renew our minds. Turn our thoughts toward honoring God and we should see change as we “put on the new self” reflecting a life pursuing “righteousness and holiness.”

I think A.W. Tozer summed it up well when he wrote that “religion can reform a person’s life, but it can never transform him. Only the Holy Spirit can transform!”