Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Ephesians 4:17-24 (ESV)
The New Life
17 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. 18 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. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Today and tomorrow we will look at two passages from Paul’s letters which explain how God changes our hearts so that we go from worry and stinginess to faith and generosity. Paul uses the example of putting on the new self, like we would put on special clothing. Just as a soldier puts on his uniform in order to be ready to face battle, each day we put on the new person that God is making us through baptism. Think of it like going to your closet and putting on your “Jesus suit.” This new person is like Christ, trusts God, is generous, forgives enemies, etc. Whose clothes are you wearing today?