What Sin

 

 

If, indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

—Ephesians 4:21-24 (NKJV)

 

 

Sweet child of God, you are a new creation in Christ. You are reborn by His Spirit. The old is gone, and you are new (2 Corinthians 2:17). But do you believe that you have lost your right standing with God because you still deal with the struggles of your flesh? You haven’t. We can’t change the temptations that come against us. But when we know and believe who we are in Christ, we have His power to overcome. 

 

Your old man is gone. He is no more. To have God’s power to overcome, you have to believe your old sin nature has been crucified with Christ and that it is not you who lives but Christ who lives in you (Galatians 2:20). To believe the old nature is gone, your mind must be renewed by the truth of your new nature revealed in God’s Word (Romans 12:3, Ephesians 4:23). And when you choose to walk in the truth of the righteousness that Christ has earned for you, you put on who you are in Christ (Ephesians 4:24). You defeat the daily temptations to sin that come. You become new in the motive and attitude of your heart.

 

Your new nature is your true identity in Christ. In Today’s English Version Ephesians 4:24 reads, “and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” 

 

You cannot make yourself new. Purchased by His precious blood and reborn by His Spirit, Christ has given you His righteous nature. Be renewed to know yourself as God knows you in “true righteousness and holiness.” Clothe yourself in your new identity. It was created “after the likeness of God.” As Christ is so are you (1 John 4:17).

 

Christ has earned for you a new life of righteousness created after the likeness of God. Allow the Word to teach you the new person you are. Clothe yourself in your new identity. Choose to deny the temptations that try to convince you that your old sin nature is still alive.

 

What sin, what sin?
Well that's as far away 
as the east is from the west
What sin, what sin?
It was gone the very minute you confessed
Buried in the sea of forgetfulness.

—Morgan Cryer

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

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