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 attitudes of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to believe God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24)
God’s command to be holy are shown with examples and the wiser ones gains more understanding from what they see. Our teachings on holiness are not based on our own holiness, for by nature we were objects of wrath but by His holiness we teach of what we learned from God. While we were sinners, we were defiled as our sins were but when we became new creations, the old nature of sin was crucified on the cross with Christ.
Every lewdness of our past also reminds us of the wrath which would have befallen us if we had continued in it. If we were to number our sins, we will not be able to and to this takes us back to the very cross of Christ. What defense will we have if we are to eventually sin against God? Will not our sins speak against us? Truth is: for every sin we commit, we need forgiveness and if God’s sorrow is in us we will be led to repentance. Even in the past many of the sinners were destroyed because of their sins and it will be worse still if the present generation of sinners are to remain still wicked. The writer of Hebrews thus states “See to it that no one misses the gift of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” (Hebrews 12:15) This speaks so much of the importance of making our calling and election sure and it also warns us to guard ourselves. The destruction of the part serves as examples to those who are disobedient and yes the present generation has to take heed lest the tragedy befalls them. In connection to this, the Holy Scripture states “See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. If they do not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?” (Hebrew 12:25). The red lines are given and it will be a terrible tragedy to reject the messages which comes from heaven. The Scripture sharply warns us against sin to keep us from falling away from the truth. However in contrast to this, there are some elected few who will never fall and it is always more desirable to be on the upper hand. Exhorting us to perfection the writer of Hebrew writes ” Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death and of faith in God, instruction about Baptism, the laying of hands, and the resurrection of the death, and eternal judgment.” (Hebrew 6:1-2) This shows a clear distinction between the matured and the immature and it opens our eyes to see how much we still need to learn about holiness. It is not that w don’t have the zeal but the error in us is that we look on pleasure when we see it and at the cross when we become remorseful. Isn’t this sheer hypocrisy? Can we love pleasure more than righteousness and sin more than God? Truth is, we are as guilty as our sins are and we must never be entangled in it ever again. To come home everyday with new sins in us will only bring about our destruction and it will be to the sinners folly to do it again. The Church has to understand that rejection of sin is the acceptance of the error. We cannot go on sinning as the world does but we must separate ourselves from her. God calls His bride to holiness and if our desire is truly for God we must wholeheartedly obey these teachings of the Word. This new teaching on renewal is a step forward and we urge everyone to be in a constant relationship with the Word. The Church must go deeper in law, rise more in holiness and mature more in righteousness. This “new self” is the image of God and we are created in the image of God. God is the Spirit of renewal.
NB: Words can be deceptive and the heart is deceitful but if we have the heart of Christ in us, rivers of living water will flow through us giving life to many. Our words will inspire lives, restore the fallen and will uplift the sealed ones to the power of the new life. This theme ” New Teachings on Renewal” is prepared to equip us better to face the greater battles ahead. The standard set here is high and it is in line with the truth. Just in the scripture trains us towards perfection and commands us to desire the greater gifts, we should accept the challenge and live it. The greater the faith, the more the challenge will be.
Ambrose.J.Chakre
