Seventh Day Baptist
Christian Education Council
PO BOX 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
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. 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. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
(ESV)
—Ephesians 4:17-24
by: Gem Barton.
On many occasions we hear people around us express their desire to make changes in their lives—especially after a traumatic event or at the dawn of a new year. But after a while, they return to old ways. Here, the Apostle Paul urged the Ephesians to be renewed in the spirit of their minds. He wanted every believer to experience new life in Christ. Paul explained to the Romans that there is no condemnation in this new life (Romans 8:1-2).This new abundant life Jesus offers includes a heart change that is available to all, if only we will surrender our all to Him.