To be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. Ephesians 4:23 CSB

When we are saved, we become new creatures in Christ. Our sins are washed clean by His blood. We become a shiny new creation that can finally be what we were made to be, like Christ. Now, we will still sin and we won’t be perfect, but we will not want to sin and we will strive for righteousness because we love the Lord and we want to please Him.

The problem we have when we get saved is that the devil is right there trying to talk us into going back to our old, sinful ways. He wants us to fail. He wants us to come back to his side. He will use anything he can to tempt us. We must be on guard. After all, once we are cleaned and made new, why would we want to get all dirty again? It would be like putting on dirty, filthy, stinky clothes.

Here in southeast Louisiana, it’s hot. It’s also very humid. This means that within a minute or two of walking outside, your clothes are all sweaty and sticking to you. Over the last week, my husband and I have been doing a lot of yard work and some additional things like pressure washing. You get very dirty doing those kinds of jobs. My clothes have been covered in dirt and grass and have gotten stinky and wet with sweat. Sorry to be so graphic, but I wanted to be sure you got it. Now, once I am done for the day, I come in and remove those nasty clothes, get cleaned up and put on fresh, clean clothes. This is sort of what it’s like when we accept Christ as our savior. We are filthy and nasty and maybe even a little stinky. But, God draws near to us and calls us to salvation. Once he does this and we accept Christ as our savior, we are washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are just like new. We look and smell fresh. We want to walk according to God’s likeness. We want to be like Him. We strive for righteousness because we love Him and want to be in close relationship with Him. But the devil is lurking. The devil wants to entice us to put on those old dirty, stinky, clothes.

Now why would we ever want to do that? Those old dirty clothes didn’t feel good. They didn’t look good. They didn’t smell good. Neither does our old sinful life. So, why would we ever want to put that on again? But at times we do.

Remember one thing, the devil is a liar. He will try to convince you those old nasty, stinky clothes will look good, feel good and smell good. He will try to convince you they are not so bad. Don’t fall for his lies.

Once you put on your new self, be careful, be alert. Don’t be susceptible to the devil’s lies. The best way to do this is through Bible study and prayer. Stay close to God and He will keep you clean and safe.

Have a great day!