Ephesians Chapter 4
Verse 18 “‘Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.'” (NLT) Paul is basically reminding the Gentiles not to walk like they used to. They used to be prideful and admired themselves, always trying to put themselves in the limelight and talk about themselves. By nature, this is how we are. We want to talk about all the things we’ve done and pay ourselves on the back. They also would use “reasoning” a lot in their thinking. They would try to give reasons why things happen in life. They would live according to their own reasoning (God’s mind and doing are so far beyond our reasoning). “This happened because… I did that or because someone else did that.” The ESV version says “they are darkened in their understanding. Alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them…”. As long as we live in our natural understanding of things, we will stumble, wander, and fall.
Verse 19 “‘They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.'”(NLT) This verse goes on to say that without God, the Gentiles were “callous, and given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” They were living with no remorse or sense. They were self-indulgent. Unmoved by the approaching wrath of God. They didn’t care about God’s wrath that comes with this kind of living. They felt no shame.
Let me clear something up about God’s wrath. God is a God of Justice, and He also is a God of Love. It is out of love that God will correct our course in life. If we are heading in a path that leads to the destruction of ourselves and those around us, God will course correct and that’s His wrath. He loves us and wants our best.
Verse 20 “‘But that isn’t what you learned about Christ.'” (NLT) The ESV version says, “But that is not the way you learned Christ!” I love that exclamation there.
This next part is often repeated in church.
Verses 21-24 “‘Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.'” (NLT) The ESV version says “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 mind, and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” All those old desires we used to have, lust and drunkenness, to indulge in things, and find our worth in things, are all inferior desires. Worthless desires that are sinful. But even the things we think are fine, for instance, the way we “reason” or try to understand why things happen, or try to figure life out, we need to put that aside, throw it off. That’s the old life. We can’t figure it all out.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for Your goodness, graciousness, and faithfulness toward me. There once was a time that my mind was full of darkness and I was wandering far from the life You give. My mind was closed off to You due to my own reasoning. My lack of understanding. My heart was hardened to change my ways. But You loved me still. Help me to remember this with those I love who refuse to change their ways and are closed off to a relationship with You. And even though I see some of those old behaviors that my flesh wants to join in on, I know You’ve called me to something higher, a life that is richer than this. Now that I see the Truth, I want to throw off those old sinful desires that filled my life with less than Your best. They deceived me and promised me happiness for a minute, but nothing is lasting except Your joy, Your love, Your ways. Holy Spirit, renew my thoughts and my attitude. Help me put on a new nature, like putting on a sweater every day, that I might live like I’m created in Your likeness – holy, worthy, chosen, full of right living and love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.