Unmingling the old-self from the new
By Brenette Wilder
Special to The Commercial
New to the city of Kansas City, in the 80’s, I found myself searching for just the right church to call my home. I visited churches of all sizes. No Christian church was off limits. If my core values, doctrines, and beliefs were being taught, I wanted to check them out.
This included attending many of their supplementary ministry programs to experience the fullness of the church personality.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
I sought answers to questions like, is the Gospel being taught from scriptures with practical applications? Would I feel welcome or have a sense of belonging? I wanted fellowship with other Christians, prayer partners, and a healthy environment rich with a variety of spiritual gifts.
What can I say. I wanted what some would call an Acts 2:42-47 community functioning as a single organism. But we all know that church demographics are broad and include a variety of complex people types.
Regardless of the church, a minimum number of outliers will always exist. This became especially clear after I witnessed a group of girls being unkind to another group of girls sitting below them. Finger pointing, gesturing, and snickering polluted the atmosphere until an adult onlooker gave them an angry glare signaling for them to stop. Today we would call those girls bullies, back then they were called mean and rude.
And, on another occasion a church usher reprimanded me for having the audacity of sitting in the spot he sat in every Sunday. Unapologetically, he said, “you’re sitting in my seat.” Mind you, it wasn’t an assigned location for ushers, just “his” seat. Although I moved over, I couldn’t help but think, I didn’t know that the Creator of heaven and earth placed a reserved sign on a seat just for His Most High and Favored Usher!
Occasionally, life teaches us that merely attending church does not mean old behaviors are left behind. In some cases, they linger like memories, and individuals become trapped in a viscous cycle. Change will often mean taking a good, hard look at ourselves, putting in the work, and being ready to face those old habits that still hang around like shadows of the past-self.
“But, if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up and be alert to what is going on around Christ — that’s where the action is. See things from His perspective.” ─ Colossians 3:1-2 MSG
To pursue being new in Christ we must first learn about Him. Gain knowledge about how He responded to people and situations. Then practice, practice, practice! And apply what we learned.
Scripture says, “since you have been chosen by God who has given you this new kind of life, and because of his deep love and concern for you, you should practice tenderhearted mercy and kindness to others. Don’t worry about making a good impression on them but be ready to suffer quietly and patiently. Be gentle and ready to forgive; never hold grudges. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others” ─ Colossians 3:12-13.
Remember those mean-spirited girls I talked about earlier. Their mindset was still set on earthly behaviors. In the book of Colossians, we are warned to avoid these types of behaviors. That’s the old way. The alternative would be to introduce yourself to new believers.
Engage in a warmhearted conversation. Differences in nationality, race, education, or social position are unimportant. “Make the most of your chances to tell others the Good News. Be wise in all your contacts with them. Let your conversation be gracious as well as sensible, for then you will have the right answer for everyone” ─ Colossians 4:5-6.
And, like that church usher that forced me from my seat, church workers in Colossians were also making life hard for members in Colosse by telling people that in addition to believing in Christ they had to be circumcised (Colossians 2:11). Among other things they stressed the false belief to worship angels (Colossians 2:18).
This type of thinking indicated that they didn’t abandon their deep-rooted behaviors either. Rather, they mingled the two together. They simply added Christ to what they already believed.
This is when we need a friend like Paul to teach us how to unmingle our sins from our Christian identity. Despite being imprisoned, he writes a letter to them. First, Paul asks God to give the believers complete knowledge of His will and fill them with spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Then he prays that they would live a life to honor God, please God, and produce every kind of good spiritual fruit. He wanted the Colossians to know God better so that they wouldn’t fall for falsehoods in the future. He wanted them to be empowered by God, to have patience, and to have endurance for the Christian race ahead of them. Finally, he ends the prayer with thanks, reminding them that they once were slaves to sin, but now they are free.
Like a master teacher, Paul spends the next three chapters conveying the truth about the gospel, teaching them how to live free from the past. He wanted them to know that mingling sin into their new life contaminates the quality of Christian living. Much like how a cataract can grow over a perfectly clear eye lens obstructing eye vision, sin can cause spiritual blurriness and blindness hindering the quality of daily living. And, before you know it, life starts looking like the Colossians –just adding Christ into the mix without really changing the way we live.
We become the bully or the unapologetic usher who struggles with distinguishing between God’s vision and the world’s vision because the two perspectives are so cohesively blended. But today, we can change that. Let’s unmingle some things. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you one thing you need to untangle and let go of in your life.
Brenette Wilder, formerly of Altheimer, Ark., is a blogger at wordstoinspire105953116.wordpress.com and author of Netted Together.
Editor’s note: Pastors, ministers or other writers interested in writing for this section may submit articles for consideration to shope@adgnewsroom.com. Writers should have connections to Southeast Arkansas. Please include your name, phone number and the name and location of your church or ministry.