Amy Boucher Pye

Tag: Apostle Paul

  • Devotional of the week: Old versus new (8 in Ephesians series)

    So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned… 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; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:17–20, 22–24)

    Photo: Prayitno on flickr
    Photo: Prayitno on flickr

    When I started a job as a acquisitions/commissioning editor in London, I was overwhelmed by the many new things to learn. Some were obvious, such as the names of colleagues, a different computer system, unfamiliar publications. Some, however, lurked below the surface, such as the working culture, personalities and relationships, expectations and emotions. I returned home those early days utterly exhausted. But before long, my new editorial life felt comfortable and familiar.

    Here Paul is urging his readers to leave their old lives of sin behind. Though the new converts were still living next to the Gentiles, they were not to mimic their actions or their hardness of heart. Instead, they were to put on their new self, in which they would reflect God’s righteousness and holiness.

    Paul speaks of the old and new selves throughout his letters. To name a few: Romans 6:6: “…our old self was crucified with him…”; Colossians 3:9: “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self…”; Romans 13:14: “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.” Employing this baptismal language, he yearns that the new believers would commit themselves fully to the ways of Christ, leaving greed and impurity behind.

    What do we need to leave behind from our old selves? A not-too-edifying television drama? A spirit of complaining? A lack of thankfulness? Join me in asking the Lord to illuminate those areas where we are corrupted, that our minds and hearts may be renewed.

    Prayer: Lord, we want to be made clean and holy. Help us to embrace the new life you are forming in us.

  • Devotional of the week: Slaves to righteousness

    But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness… But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:17–20, 22)

    Photo credit: Eagle by HooLengSiong on Flikr
    Photo credit: Eagle by HooLengSiong on Flikr

    The theme of leaving behind the old self and embracing the new shines through the letters of the apostle Paul. Of course this follows from his dramatic conversion. For one moment he was persecuting Christians to the point of death while the next he was rendered blind as Jesus revealed himself to him, changing his life (and the world) forever.

    But as we see in today’s passage, the new life doesn’t happen automatically. One’s will needs to be involved and committed. Paul employs the example of slavery, showing how we need to offer ourselves – our minds, hearts, emotions, actions – to right living before God. This then produces purity, holiness, and eternal life.

    I recently heard an illustration that warns against our temptation to entertain sin. An eagle sees a fresh carcass floating on some ice, but moving toward a waterfall. The ice provides the eagle a place to land and from which to pick at the carcass. As the waterfall approaches, the eagle sneaks in just a few more bites. But when it tries to lift off, it finds its claws are frozen into the ice and falls to its death.

    No, I’m not suggesting we are heading for that waterfall! For as Paul says, because we have become slaves to God, we will have eternal life. But the eagle can be a vivid cautionary tale against living out of the old self.

    For reflection: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).