Live and let die
By Ivan Ho 30 Oct 2016
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
If one hasn’t been saved, there is no “old man” to talk about.
On the other hand, when a person becomes born again in the spirit, he takes on a new nature in Christ. However, his old self is not completely dead and buried yet.
If one is brought up in a church and been saved along the way, it may be hard for him to identify who the old man was. He/ she may or may not realise there is an old man to deal with. Just because one is unaware about the old man, it doesn’t mean that the old man is non-existent.
Everyone who has been born again in Christ needs to deal with our old nature.
A lot of us only know what we have been saved from without knowing who we are saved into.
We have been instructed to put off the old man, allow the Holy Spirit to renew our mind, and put on the new man who was created in Christ, which is a daily process. (Ephesians 4:21-24) Even though we have been forgiven, our old man still live in unforgiveness, fear, pride, deceit, lusts, selfishness, disobedience and rebellion. When we live according to our old sinful nature, we walk according to the flesh and obey what the flesh tells us to do, even though we have been saved from our sins.
Christ not only comes to save us from our sins, He also redeems us from our old man. We ask “what would Jesus do” (WWJD) when we face every situation. The question we should really ask ourselves instead is “what would I do?” Should I think and react according to the old man, or should I allow the new man in Christ to come forth? Should I walk according to the flesh or should I walk according to the Spirit?
When we walk, our old man wants to take the familiar path we have been taking all along over the years, and many people are stuck in their old man and have no power to come to their destiny. That is the most frustrating thing for a believer, when he keeps on making the same wrong decisions. The old man is stubborn, prideful, lustful, fearful, self-seeking and hostile to God.
On the other hand, our new man wants to take us to a new path in Christ, and that path always involve us to change.
Put off the old man, and put on the new man in Christ. Live in the new man and let the old man die!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV