A New Life
As for the past way of living, get rid of the old man, who is tainted according to deceitful desires, and renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, created according to God in justice and holiness of truth.
Ephesians 4: 22-24
There is the messianic biblical model of Jesus, He came to restore the kingdom of God on earth. When man failed God in his sin, the kingdom of God on earth ended, hence the coming of the Lord to this world. What did Jesus do? FORGING A DIFFERENT CHARACTER IN PEOPLE. Where did it start? For the Sermon on the Mount to teach everyone a new behavior, a new character and new values.
The church must copy this method of Jesus to become a successful church, because there the life of its people is transformed. Obedience is the priority, because it points to being, not knowledge. When the church is like that, it longs to be a disciple of Christ, the motivation is intrinsic, because they want to please God. But for this, Jesus dedicated himself to transforming their lives first.
The Pharisees led a life of falsehood, but Jesus crossed the truth to them. He taught them a new character, forming a new man. What good is knowledge if you do not have responsibility, love, truthfulness, holiness? The Pharisees led a double life with a double standard, that is why Jesus called them hypocrites. To avoid this, we must train in values such as love, faith, holiness, truth ... values that regulate the life of people and identify the believer.
Today we will see holiness, which is the distinctive feature of who has been set apart by God with respect to the world, in order to develop purity and integrity. For what purpose did God separate us from the world? TO CONSECRATE OUR LIVES TO HIM. How? (a) God separates us from the world, (b) we divest ourselves of the old man, (c) the transformed man pleases God.
- GOD DROPS US BY HIS GRACE TO BE HIS CHILDREN. Ephesians 1: 4 / Philippians 1: 6 / John 15-16 / Galatians 1: 5 / Jeremiah 1: 5
God took us out of the world and chose us, moved us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. When God calls the call it is irrevocable. We are called to be saints in all our way of life. God bought us, redeemed us, possessed us and chose us to be saints. After the new birth comes a new character.
Now, if God is our Father, we must remember that He also wants His children to please Him and please Him. That is precisely sanctity, our consecration and then doing His will. By His grace we were taken out of the filth of our lives.
2.- WE ARE CONSCIOUS OF THE GRACE OF GOD IN US. 2 Corinthians 6: 14-18
We were filthy and God took us out of the world and that holiness is to shine in our hearts. Therefore, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness, for we no longer have the smell of death but have a fragrant smell of life. Now we are holy and we have nothing to do with darkness. We no longer live by our standards but by God's standards.
The world has lost the compass, so we must be careful. This world has degraded men and women by erasing gender roles. Let's not copy the life and fashion of the world. We must be like the One who called us: CHRIST. Let us remove the corrupted language from our lips, let us guard against evil. We can only resist if we abide in Christ.
3.- WITHOUT HOLINESS, NOBODY WILL BE ABLE TO SEE GOD. Hebrews 12: 1, 14 / Ephesians 4: 22-32
We must forget our past way of life. Now in us everything must be different, because we are new people, holy and clean. God brought us out of filth. The point is to have a different behavior, marked by a character and values different from those of this world.
QUESTIONS TO REFLECT
- Why did God choose you?
- Where did the Lord get you?
- How should your behavior be now?
- How does God forge a new character in you?
THE CALL IS TO BE SAINTS IN ALL OUR WAY OF LIVING