Monday Morning Devotion-May 13, 2013 

Put Off, Put On, Put Away

Put off, concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt.  Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man which was created according to God.  Therefore putting away lying…Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you.  Ephesians 4:22-29

      Sometimes it is hard to put off the past.  If something dramatic happened that had a huge impact on your life it is difficult to move on.  If it was something good then you don't want to put it off or discard it and go forward too quickly.  It feels good to linger there.  But, life has to be lived today.

            This is not to say that the way you live out today is not impacted by some thing or even many things that occurred in the past.  It's simply pointing out that you can't still count on the past to get something done today in this "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately" world.

            To have success today we must put on the new man or woman we are becoming.  Fresh new ideas and actions must ensue.

            And as Paul writes to the church at Ephesus, it is also important to put away some of the negative things from the past that caused those circumstances that you are trying to put off.

            Put on…Put off…Put away!

            Paul Fritz, a professor at Trinity College says, in a sermon, that the way to heed this advice from the Apostle Paul is by practicing "Replacement Thinking."

            Some of Fritz's replacement suggestions to put on a new self are:

            * Replace worry with faith (Philippians 4:6-8)

            "Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything.  Tell God what you need    and thank Him for all He has done."

            * Replace despair with hope  (Psalm 33:17-18)    

               "The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on whose hope is in His                                                                unfailing love."

            * Replace anger with love.  (1 Corinthians 13)

               "Love is patient and kind not jealous or envious or boastful or proud or haughty or     

                 selfish or rude."

            * Replace suspicion with trust. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

              "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your insights.  In all your ways 

                acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths."

            * Replace cynicism with belief  (Romans 4:20-21)

            "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith                            and gave glory to God.  Being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had                            promised."

            * Replace sorrow with joy (2 Corinthians 6:9-10)

               "I am sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, poor, yet making many rich, having nothing and                               yet possessing all things."

            *Replace Distress with confidence (Psalm 71:5)

             ""I praise you Lord for giving me your sense of certainty.  For you have been my hope."

            Fritz has 20 of these suggestions, but I think you have the idea at this point that the

way to put off hurtful things of the past that are creeping into the present is to replace the negative things with positive ones. 

            For the most part we are talking about a new way of thinking.  A new approach.  Teaching us "old dogs" (no matter what our age is) new tricks.  You know the old saying that "you are never too old to learn."  Wow that's two old sayings in one paragraph.  And I guess "old thinking is what we are attempting to "put off."

            As we put off old ways and put on new ones Paul says there are some things that must be put away, i.e. don't do them any more. 

            The first of these is "lying."  Now since I know none of my faithful devotion readers are given to telling lies, then I guess we can skip this one. :) Lies can not only occur when situations or circumstances are fabricated, but when there is a smidgeon of truth and it is exaggerated.  Blowing something out of proportion is really equal to lying in some regards.  So, avoiding this aids our putting on the new self.

            Bitterness towards others is self-defeating consequently Paul includes it on the "put away" list.  One of the problems with bitterness is that it lingers and grows and can develop in to a determination to get revenge.

            Anger is another "put away."  Anger can bore a little hole in your heart.  It can keep you from acting rationally and leads a person to take unwise actions.

            In fact, with a little more frustration piled on anger can turn into rage.  Rage ain't good.  It speaks to being out of control, taking irrational measures and doing things you shouldn't.  That's why Paul wisely included it on the to-be-put-away list.

            Reading farther we notice that Paul talks about malice, which is defined in the dictionary as "the intention or desire to cause harm to another through an unlawful or wrongful act without justification or excuse." Does the term "with malice toward none" ring a bell? Malice is a no-no that can derail any intention to put off the old and put on the new if it is harbored in your heart.

            In fact you could say that malice is the "end product of bitterness, range and anger."

All of those, when executed by a person, are not a pretty sight to behold.

            If you drop on down to verse 32 Paul instructs us to "be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you."

            Now that sounds like a surefire strategy to help put off, put on and put away the things that are holding you back.

Monday Prayer:  Thank you Lord for directing us to Paul's advice in Ephesians that instruct us how to live lives that are more pleasing to you.  Amen!

***author's note:  Have a great week as you think about not being held back by the past and put away those self-defeating thoughts and actions, in order to foster a new approach for successful living.