My mom had a friend who grew up Catholic. In fact, Catholicism ran deep within her. A friend of hers had invited her to a Bible study… something she had not been brought up with. And she loved it. Everything was brand-new for her. But one day, she said to my mom… “While I’m enjoying the Bible study, I was born a Catholic and I’ll die a Catholic. I think what she was saying is that she wasn’t willing to give up her religion, with all its rules and traditions for a relationship with Jesus. So she just piled on the new without letting go of the old. Was she transformed? I would say “somewhat!” But she could never fully live in the fullness of Jesus because the old was still imbedded in her.
This is more common than you think. The things we grew up with shaped who we are today… the way we think, the way we respond, the way we view life, and the way we have entered into our Christianity. In other words… the lack of love, the family dysfunction, the judgment we felt, the condemnation we lived under, the rejection that followed us through school have deep roots in our hearts. We want to know Jesus more, we want a deeper understanding of spiritual things, we want to hear what God is saying. But these things may be a hindrance. They just may be blocking us from achieving all that God has for us.
I wonder if Paul was speaking to the church at Ephesus from experience (growing up in a deeply religious family and eventually becoming a Pharisee), or because he saw the hindrances the Ephesians were dealing with. So, he addressed it in this part of his letter. He tells them two things that must happen before they (we) could ever walk in the fullness of God.
1) We must put off the old! This must take place first. When we go to bed at night, we would never think of putting our pj’s on over our dirty, dusty, and smelly clothes from the day, right? No. We first take them off and then put on the clean clothes. I believe that sometimes we just put the righteousness of Christ, the truth about Jesus, and the Bible we want to know over the old. But here’s the thing… when we do this, the old will eventually find its way to the surface again. And it will hinder us from truly hearing what God is saying to. His Word gets muddled in our minds, tangled up with all the old things we grew up with. If you recognize something in your life that has been a hindrance, then take it to the cross and give it over to Jesus. This may need to be a daily exercise.
2) We must put on the new! How do we do this? By renewing our minds. For all of us… this needs to a daily thing. We should constantly pour truth in… reciting it out loud over and over again. Yesterday, I had an MRI on my shoulder. I’m extremely claustrophobic and in the past, I’ve been able to take medication for this procedure, but with my pacemaker now, I can’t do that. So, when I went into the tunnel, I just kept reciting God’s Word in my mind, singing quietly old hymns, and praying for loved ones. My mind was taken into the presence of God and I felt His presence the entire time. His Word transforms our minds. His Word can give us the strength to overcome those things of our past and bring us into a renewed relationship with Jesus… a relationship we all long for. Our minds must be renewed for us to walk in absolute fullness.
This reminds me of the Karate Kid… wax on, wax off. But God reverts that for us… Wax off, Wax on. Let’s follow these two principles so that others will see Christ’s image in us and so that we can REALLY hear what God is saying.