You took off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires; you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; you put on the new self, the one according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of truth.  Ephesians 4:22-24 HCSB

I don’t know about you, but I am not a fan of clutter. Clutter makes my space feel chaotic. I like to shop, and in order to have room for my new things, I must let go of some of the old things. Just as holding onto old things can clutter our space, holding onto old behaviors can clutter our walk with the Lord.

In our Scripture passage today, Paul is telling the Ephesians they must put on their new self according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of truth. They should have taken off their old way of life that was corrupted by evil desires. If we have clothes that are torn or faded or stained, and we buy new clothes, we don’t just put the new clothes on over the old clothes, right?

When we try to hang onto our old way of life with all of its sin and evil desires after having been saved, this is exactly what we are doing. If we put old, stained, and torn clothes under our new clothes, this will be evident. The same holds when we claim to be saved but continue living our old, sinful lives. We can dress up and go to church every Sunday. We can smile sweetly at the people there and then turn around and talk about them behind their backs. We can harbor hatred and unforgiveness towards those who have hurt us. We can plot evil and remain in our sexually immoral behavior, all while claiming to be saved.

If we continue to read on in Ephesians 4, Paul gives some specific instructions about things we should let go of when we are saved. In verse 25, he tells us we should put away lying and speak the truth. In verse 26, he tells us that when we get angry, we should not let our anger cause us to sin. And he also tells us in verse 26 that we should not hold on to anger. Paul said we should not let the sun go down on our anger. When we do this is when we tend to harbor unforgiveness, which can lead to hatred. In 1 John 3:15, John said, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.” Paul says in verse 27 that when we do this, we give the Devil an opportunity.

Paul then goes on in verse 28 to say the thief must no longer steal. In verse 29, he tells us to let go of foul language, and in verse 30, he tells us not to grieve God’s Holy Spirit. These are the things we should do in our new life in Christ. These are the things we should remove.

Paul summarizes his instructions for living a new life by saying to remove all bitterness, anger, wrath, shouting, and slander, along with all malice. And our new life should be filled with compassion for one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ (Ephesians 4:31-32).

In Colossians 3, Paul talks about putting to death our old worldly life filled with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry in verse 5. And in verses 12-15, he tells us to put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, acceptance, forgiveness, love, peace, and thankfulness.

If you are trying to keep these old things that were a part of your old life while grabbing onto all the goodness that God has to offer, you are going to have a problem. Your life will become cluttered and chaotic.

Let go and get rid of your life before Christ. Die to your old self and be renewed as you are born again in Christ.

This will bring you peace and joy that goes beyond human understanding.

Have a great day!