Ephesians 4:22-25 — Changing Clothes

READ THIS: Ephesians 4:22-25

22 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; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.  25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?

The Bible loves to use the idea of putting on clothes to help us picture how we should be following after Jesus. There are verses in the Bible that tell us to clothe ourselves with things like compassion and humility, and later in Ephesians we are going to learn about the Armor of God. This time, Paul says we need to change our clothes...our clothes of attitude and action, so to speak.

We all go through seasons where we wear certain clothing all the time, but as we get older, we realize the clothes are outdated, out of style, or they just don't fit us anymore. There was a season of my life where I rocked fedoras. It was rough. Needless to say, as I got older, I stopped wearing them because they didn't fit with who I felt I was (thank goodness).

Likewise, Paul is telling us that if we want to chase after Jesus the right way, we need to take off the things that don't fit us anymore (lying, bad attitudes, corruption, and more) and put on new clothes instead (doing what is right, being holy/"set apart", and speaking truthfully)! If we want to look like Jesus, let's dress like Jesus... but only metaphorically. I don't wanna see y'all rockin' tunics on Sundays.

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. What is the most unusual clothing item you used to wear a lot?

2. What is a behavior or attitude you need to get rid of so you can look like Jesus? What can you replace it with?
 
TRY THIS:
 
Wear a shirt from one of your parents this week, and see if anyone notices. Report back with results!

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