How to Put Away the Old, Bad You

The Bible tells us to renew our way of thinking and acting.

 22 throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception.  23 Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes.  24 You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness -- righteous, holy, and true.  25 So put away all falsehood and "tell your neighbor the truth" because we belong to each other.  26 And "don't sin by letting anger gain control over you."   Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry,  27 for anger gives a mighty foothold to the Devil.  28 If you are a thief, stop stealing. Begin using your hands for honest work, and then give generously to others in need.  29 Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.  Ephesians 4: 22-29  New Living Translation

I think it is important for me to say this: I'm not perfect!  Nobody is perfect.  We know that God is the only person who is perfect.  That is not to say we shouldn't try our best to be the best we can be.  The Bible, in many instances, shows us how to conduct ourselves.

The Bible verses in Ephesians chapter four show us how to behave.  Before you can find out how to be a good person, you must know how the bad you really is.  Then, you can know the opposite is what you should strive for, in terms of good conduct.

 

Bad Nature

 

--lusting after what others have

--lying

--stealing

--cursing

 

Good Nature

 

--being truthful

--not stealing

--doing good work with your hands (gardening, woodworking, sewing)

--speaking words that will encourage others

Why do we have to put the old self away?

--evil nature is rotten;

--we need to renew our attitudes and way of thinking;

--we are a new creation, and should reflect God's nature;

--we belong to one another;

--we need to put away anger, which causes the Devil to have a way to destroy our lives;

--we must help each other; and

--we must use positive language to build each other up.

I pray this has been informative.  May the Holy Spirit (God's spirit) counsel us about these Bible verses.  I love breaking down the meanings of the words, piecemeal, in order to understand what I am reading.  I hope it helps you all, too.  Thanks for reading what the Lord has revealed to me about putting away our old selves.   How about you, my readers? Have you put the old you away?  How are you conducting yourselves?  Have you been unsure of what to stop doing?  I think the Bible verses in Ephesians 4 spell out how we are to behave towards one another.  Let's try to be an example to those around us of what a true Christian should be.   I pray that God gives you all, my beloveds, His wisdom and peace.    

 
This has been an entry for the Spiritual Sundays series. 

To compile this mini- bible study, I visited: http://www.biblestudytools.com/