It Starts Small

One of my favorite things to do, when I lived on a little farm was to work on a project, get really dirty, and then go take a shower. To throw off the dirty clothes and get cleaned up with a fresh set of clothes. There was some sort of accomplishment in getting the dirty off and putting clean on. 

Here, Paul tells us, put off your former life. The Greek phrase for “put off” is apotithēmi and means to cast away, throw down, or lay apart. Paul writes that our former lives, before we received Christ, was corrupted by deceitful desires. 

The Greek word for corrupt is phtheirō and it means depraved or defiled. How did our former selves get corrupted? by deceitful desires. 

The Greek word used for deceitful is apatē and means deceit, deceitfulness. Do you see one of our English words from the Greek word? We get our word for appetite from this Greek word. SO in a sense, our old selves had an appetite for desires and in this case, it was for deceitful desires. 

SO Paul tells us, daily we need to change our clothes. Our old clothes are filthy dirty with deceitful desires, and we if we want a renewing of our minds, we need to put on a new set of clothes. God’s clothes are created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.

We learn what God’s clothes are by continuing to read this passage of scripture:

²⁵ Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. 

²⁶ Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷ and don’t give the devil an opportunity.²⁸ Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. 

²⁹ No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. 

³⁰ And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. 

³¹ Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 

³² And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
Ephesians 4:25-32

Ponder: Perhaps it is time to do an early spring cleaning of your spiritual wardrobe. What articles of clothes do you recognize to be dirty in your life?

We can go today to our Heavenly Father and ask Him for His cleansing and life water. We can confess holding onto dirty clothes and giving them to Him to exchange for a clean heart and clean clothes.