Tue 6.2 – Old Man, Old Self

Today’s Readings: Colossians 3.1-9; 2 Timothy 3.1-7;

When you read Colossians 3.8-9, what comes to your mind when you see that term “old man”? Are we supposed to find an Old Man like this guy, and so something to him? No, of course not. So, then what does God mean by “old man”? (ok ladies, you are going to have to work with me, this is just a biblical term – MAN – that speaks of the whole of the human…ok, not necessarily the male chromosome of our species.)

I think the best way to define something is to illustrate it. Oftentimes we can understand a concept very well, although we may not be able to verbalize it exactly as we want. Like if I asked you to explain “love”. You may know what love is, you may have experienced love, you may even be remembering the emotions that are so strongly attached to such a word as we talk about it, however…to put all of that into words, you may struggle.

THE OLD MAN?

So, let’s look at an example of a day in our lives when the OLD MAN was THE MAN in control of our lives. Check out Ephesians 2.3, now get that picture in your mind. What is God describing there? He’s describing that way of living that is TOTALLY YIELDED (Rom 6 – know, reckon, yield) to the ways, desires, and LUSTS of the FLESH. That’s pretty easy to identify with isn’t it? We have all been there, some more recently that we’d like to admit.

That is the OLD MAN, the OLD WAY, the OLD SELF, the PRE-CHRIST version of living that was totally captive to the desires inherited from the FIRST MAN – ADAM (Romans 5 is an in depth treatment of this subject if you’d like more information, maybe even compare that with 1 Corinthians 15 for a overall understanding). That man – the OLD MAN, who was in control when we were lost but now is dead (Romans 6.6) is what we are to “PUTT OFF”.(for more on the old man, just in case you are itchy about these kind of things like I am, see Ephesians 4.22; Galatians 2.20, 5.24, 6.14)

PUTT OFF?

I don’t know about you, but when I was in High School I was not very concerned with how my clothes looked in my closet. I would come in after school, in a hurry to scatter off to wherever my friends were going to be that night and would come into my room, throw off what I had on and grab some different shoes, maybe a hat and hoodie or something, and jet our the door. In the midst of the clothes-changing-frenzy that would take place in my room, little concern was given to hanging those clothes back up, or making sure they were color-separated for the laundry, or whatever… I just wanted to get off my cheesy “school clothes” and get on my comfortable weekend clothes, caring nothing about those I was throwing off my back…where ever they landed was fine by me…the bed, the floor, the chair, the stereo, the trash can, on top of my dog, whatever…I was in a hurry to get the good ones on.

Now, do you get the idea of PUTTING OFF from that story? It was simply that I was throwing those things OFF my body, casting them aside for the sake of PUTTING ON something better! When we are saved, and we realize that our RISEN LIFE is that NEW MAN Jesus Christ that we PUT ON, then there shouldn’t be any question in our minds that we are to PUTT OFF the OLD MAN who is ALREADY DEAD, CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, and HOLDING US BACK from living in the reality of who we are IN HEAVENLY PLACES via the NEW MAN.

God says, take that OLD MAN and PUT HIM OFF, rip that junk off your body, throw it to the ground, and never give it a second thought…don’t even take the time to hang that mess back up in your closet…it’s dirty…it’s tainted…it’s worldly…it’s opposing God…and YOU – a NEW MAN IN CHRIST JESUS should never wear those NASTY OLD GARMENTS of the OLD MAN!May God help us to realize this truth today, may you PUT OFF the old man today, and may all his ways and wills go right along with him!