If anyone be in Christ they are a new creature, the old has passed away behold the new has come. 2 Cor 5:17
If I want to be like Christ, the first thing I must do is stop being so in love with my old creature. Many times we don't grow in our sanctification because the part that the Holy Spirit wants to reform , reshape, cut away, and discard is the same part that we have come to be known by and grown to love most about ourselves. What do I mean by that? Here's some examples...
1. You have a reputation for being quick witted and snappy with your comebacks. They often sting when they land and you know that because that's the point. Over the years your old creature developed a sharp tongue as a defense mechanism. You were picked on as a child and found it to be safer to strike first. Ever since you were a teenager this has become your identity. Some seem to like it, even love it about you and often use you for their entertainment or to even be their personal sword against their enemies. You like being useful and have developed a love and even a skill at cutting others down. Then you got saved. And His Word has been telling you that it is a soft answer that turns away wrath (Pro 15:1), or that we must be quick to listen, SLOW to speak, and slow to become angry (James 1:19), or that the one who guards his mouth preserves his life, and the one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin (Pro 13:3). So now what?
You have a choice to make. You can either continue in the reputation that your old creature built, or you can yield to the Holy Spirit and let Him transform your identity into greater Christ likeness. Either or. Never both. Jesus does not leave us room to walk fences. He says "whoever is not with Me is against Me and whoever does not gather with Me, scatters. (Matt 12:30)". But still our God is a patient God and He will keep bringing you back to that decision until you make the right choice.
2. Your old creature had a reputation for always having the newest and best of everything. There were expectations on you that when you showed up, all eyes would be on you to see what you might be wearing or driving. Then you got saved. God is now teaching you about sacrifice, generosity, contentment, and self-denial. It is what He wants you to learn. You read the story of the rich young ruler and feel that the Lord is speaking to you and wants you to give more. Then your phone rings and a loved one needs money to fix their car and they are asking for $300. That happens to be the amount of money that the new shoes you want cost and they drop tomorrow. You have never missed a shoe drop. What do you do? Who do you love more in that moment, old creature you, or Jesus?
You can plug anything into this scenario. Was your old creature known for conquering women? Maybe a reputation for having all the attention at gatherings, or using certain language? Maybe your rep was about intimidating others (another defense mechanism for pain) to get your way?
Whatever it was we cannot be so in love with it that we cannot let it go in order to be transformed. For me it was being quick-witted and unafraid of confrontation. That latter one is still useful when the battle is assigned by God, but sometimes I would be confrontational before seeing what God was actually trying to do in me. For me, the lesson was learning when NOT to confront. For you, it may be learning TO confront... for the right things. But God knows. And that's the point.
Only be committed to being what God wants you to be and to become. Don't be committed to being your old creature self. Instead...
"5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, God’s wrath comes on the disobedient, 7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. 8 But now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator." Col 3:5-11
If you can relate, like or comment or share. What about your old reputation is hard to let go of?
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