We’re talking about…we’re talking about being born again and starting over with a new nature set apart as holy to God, a fully restored human, a fully restored humanity created in the image of God. And we know pretty well we are who we are. We have what we have. We can’t give ourselves a new nature. But…but it’s available as a gift from God and all we have to do is believe it and collaborate in it. And that’s how we end our reading today, with Paul summing it up. And I quote. “So then, putting away falsehood let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not make room for the devil. Those who steal must give up stealing. Rather let them labor doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you.” So, there are a lot of behavioral things and there are postures in there. But Paul says let the Spirit renew your thoughts. In other words, we can allow the Spirit of God to remind us of who we were created to be. And anger and bitterness and unforgiveness, those are not choosing the best version of ourselves. We have been given a new nature. We are growing in a new direction. We are growing up to look like Jesus. The alternative would be to sort of try to have lip service to Jesus trying to hold on to this old nature along with this new nature, so half dead, half alive. This is not righteous and holy. This is not set apart to God. So, it does kinda come down to a choice. All kinds of messaging are being sent at us every day. We’ll get the best version of ourselves if we will make the choice to buy the thing. What’s being offered to us here is free. The best version of ourselves is the one who is reborn, made new, set apart as holy and righteous before God as a member of God’s family. What we have to do is believe and obey. The best version of ourselves is found in surrendering to God and walking through life in the glorious dance that is the gift of life that He has given us. So, I guess it comes down to a choice. Which version…if we’re gonna continue to use the vernacular, which version do we want to be?
Prayer: Holy Spirit, we invite you into that. And we recognize the tension in it because immediately our hearts say, this is…we want to be reborn, we want to be set apart, we want to be remade, we want to be holy, we want to be good children, we want to be sons and daughters that make you proud. And we can say that from our heart and we can even intellectualize it from our head, but then we catch ourselves doing all kinds of things that do not bring glory to your name. And, so, we realize we’re pretty conflicted about it because our…our words and our deeds don’t always match. And, so, to live into this and become who you’ve created us to be, which would be the best version of…that we could ever be, we will have to surrender to you. We actually don’t know how to do this. We haven’t figured it out. But you have created life itself and you know how it works. And, so, we surrender to you, and we open our hands and let go of all the things that we are holding onto and we become aware of your presence all around us and within us, a still small voice leading us forward. Come Holy Spirit lead us into all truth we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.