A Whole New Perspective of Life

[Christsfreeservant]

Ephesians 4:17-19 ESV

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”​

When we believe in Jesus Christ with God-given faith, our old self is crucified with Christ in death to sin in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin but so we might walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus as slaves of God and of righteousness. Sin is to no longer have dominion over our lives, but Jesus is to be our Lord.

Therefore, we must no longer walk (in conduct, in practice) as the ungodly do. We must not give ourselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But we must walk now according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. We must no longer live in obedience to sin, for that ends in death, but we are to live godly and holy lives, pleasing to God.

And this is not optional. This is not a mere suggestion or recommendation. We can’t “believe” in Jesus and be forgiven our sins and be guaranteed heaven when we die while we continue to walk in sin, in habitual and deliberate sin against our Lord and against others. If that is what we do, then we will not inherit eternal life, but we will die in our sins.

And we can’t separate our salvation from our sanctification, as though we can be saved but not sanctified or as though Jesus can be our Savior but not our Lord or as though we can have our sins forgiven but not be disciples (followers) of Jesus Christ. For our salvation is ongoing and it won’t be complete until Jesus returns and he takes us to be with him.

[Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Lu 9:23-26]

Ephesians 4:20-24 ESV

“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.”​

If we were taught the truth in Christ Jesus, and we weren’t taught what most people appear to be teaching today as the gospel, then we should have been taught that faith in Jesus Christ involves putting off our old self, which belongs to our former manner of life. And this means we don’t live like we did before. We don’t engage in all the same sinful practices as before.

And we should have been taught that our minds need to be renewed in the Spirit of God away from living in sin to now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. We should have a whole new perspective of life than we did before. We should now want to not sin and we should want to obey our Lord. We should want to find out what pleases him and do it.

Also we should have been taught to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. And this means that we now take on the character of Christ in all godliness and purity. Our desires are now his desires. We don’t have the attitude that now that Jesus forgave all our sins that we can now keep living in sin without guilt.

But we do none of this in our flesh. It is impossible to do this in our flesh, in fact, for we can only walk according to the Spirit by the Spirit empowered by God and in his strength and righteousness. This is not about behavioral modification and being “good deed doers.” This is about following our Lord in his ways and in his truth because we have now committed our lives to him.

He gives us all that we need to live godly and holy lives pleasing to him. It is his grace which trains us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return, and for his glory and praise. For even our faith is a gift from God and not of ourselves, and our faith is obedience to our Lord.

So, don’t believe the lies which are telling people that they can believe in Jesus, be forgiven all sin (past, present, and future), and have heaven guaranteed them when they die, but that they don’t have to repent of their sins nor obey the Lord and his commands nor submit to him as Lord (owner-master) of their lives. They call that works-based salvation.

Believe the truth that is in Christ Jesus and what Jesus taught that if we want to come after him that we must deny self and take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For, he said that if we save (hold on to) our lives (of living in sin and for self) that we will lose them for eternity. But if for his sake we lose our lives (die with him to sin) then we have life in him for eternity. Please take this to heart.

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10]

The Prayer

Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,
Alberto Testa and Tony Renis

I pray you'll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don't know

Let this be our prayer
When we lose our way
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.

I pray we'll find your light
And hold it in our hearts
When the stars go out each night
Remind us where you are.

Let this be our prayer
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.

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P.S. This is not an endorsement of the singers other than as musicians