Ephesians 4:20-24 That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
My daddy told me a story that an old black minister friend once shared. He said that he asked a boy, “Are you saved?” The boy answered, “I think so.” The minister then told the boy that the way that you can know for sure is “if you is what you was, then you ain’t.” Hey, I know that is poor grammar, and I’m not even going to try to correct it because it speaks the truth in the simplest form. Salvation changes us from the inside out, and we become new beings. We can’t change first, and then get the gift of salvation. It is because of salvation that we change.
Paul explains this in Ephesians chapter 4. When we become Christians, we put off the old self that is corrupted and renew the attitude of our minds. We put on a new self, a self that was created to be like God. We don’t completely change the moment that we accept Christ into our hearts, but we sure start wanting to change. We recognize that our old selves are not like God, and we start gradually changing. The change starts when we learn about Christ, but learning about Christ isn’t the same thing as knowing Him. Far too often, we fill our minds with book knowledge that doesn’t transform into heart knowledge. The more we learn about Christ, the more we want to know, but if we never truly give our hearts to Christ, we will never know and experience the life with Him that He intended for each of us. We must ask Christ to be the Lord of our hearts.
When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, and ask Him to be the Lord of our hearts, we put off the old self. “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” Romans 6:6. The person that we once were is no more. The old self was crucified with Christ so that sin no longer rules our bodies and our minds. We are no longer slaves to sin because we are free in Christ. Oh, don’t get me wrong. Sin will still try to creep into the life of a Christian, but knowing and trusting and following Christ will help us to recognize sin as sin, and we can and will overcome and defeat the sin with Christ. Conquering those demons will be hard at first, but as we fall more in love with our Savior, learn more about who He is, learn to fully trust in Him, and start putting on the full armor of God every day, we gradually realize that we can win those battles one battle at a time. We have the strength of the Creator of the universe residing within us. John 16:33 tells us, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Christ has already overcome the world.
Once we put off the old self, we put on the new self. We are a new creation in Christ, and we must continually renew our attitude as a Christian on a daily basis. How do we do this? We must study the Word of God, talk to Him, keep Christ in our thoughts and actions throughout the entire day. If our minds are on Christ, then our actions will be right. We can’t grow as Christians if we accept Christ as our Savior and go to church on Sunday mornings and do nothing else. That’s not how God designed us, and that’s not the kind of relationship He wants with us. We must keep our eyes on the goal…eternity with Christ. We must live each day with heaven in mind.
I ask that you ask yourself this question today, “Am I saved?” And if you’re not absolutely sure that your answer is yes, just remember what that old preacher said, “if you is what you was, then you ain’t.” Are you a new person in Christ? Have you turned away from those sins of the past? Do you know without a shadow of a doubt where your will spend eternity? If not, don’t wait one more minute! We aren’t promised tomorrow. I don’t profess to be the perfect Christian. I’m just an old Mississippi gal saved by the grace of our loving Savior. I’m just thankful that I ain’t who I was!
Inspirations from the Funny Farm 