"A form of godliness but denying its true power." - 2 Timothy 3:5
Once spiritually reborn our way of living (thoughts and actions) must be sanctified (cleansed) from our former way of living.
Understanding our OS
Smartphones are almost a "must have" technology for our lives today. They make life easier, safer, and more enjoyable. Your smartphone functions through an OS (operating system), to which we add apps (applications) which serve those very purposes (ease, safety, fun).
There are 2 main Operating Systems in use, Android or Apple (iOS), and your phone functions under one or the other.
Our life is like our phone. We add applications to make our lives easier, safer, and more enjoyable. We add education, training, skills, hobbies, and a variety of activities to enhance our lives.
All around the world and throughout history, humanity has been shown to be inherently RELIGIOUS, which means every person (and people group) add some type of "religious app" to their operating system... to make life easier, safer, enjoyable.
But Jesus did not come to bring a new "app" for our lives. He brought, and demonstrated, a new type of Operating System.
"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 minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." - Ephesians 4:22-24
To install a new OS onto your phone, the old one must be eliminated. All your previous apps would no longer be compatible and work with the new system. And under the new operating system, your phone would function in a different way.
To put on the NEW SELF, the old one must be eliminated... which is a Christ follower's confession and is depicted in Baptism, "Death to self, alive anew to Christ." - Romans 6:4-8
We either add the Christianity app to our original "World OS" and utilize it to varying degrees, or we actually change to the new "Kingdom OS" and live a radically different (transformed) life.
A Carnal Christian is the reborn believer who continues to consider them self primarily a BODY which has a soul and a spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23), and who continues to see this world as the REALITY yet hopes for a different future. Due to natural inclination and years of practice, the Carnal Christian continues to rely on "self" to operate, which DIVIDES loyalties between both worldly pursuits and pursuing the Kingdom. Our actions become divided, and our thoughts become double minded.
A NEW WAY of thinking is blocked due to an entrenched Status Quo from our FORMER WAY of life.
This barrier between soul and spirit can only be penetrated and broken down through the Word of God.
"For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." - Hebrews 4:12
Only through this new thought process can we fully receive God's power and be transformed into His image.
Being both "Dead to this world" - Galatians 6:14 and "Alive to Christ" - Romans 6:11.
What does this FALLEN WORLD still do perfectly?
It reveals which OS we are using.
"Search me, God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." - Psalm 139:23-24
Under the WOS (world operating system), we add the Religious app and continue to live primarily for SELF... My life, My home, My family, My friends, My church.
ME (mine, my) remain in charge.
We appease our newly reborn spirit by stronger acts of charity, service, devotion, but nevertheless it is in addition to our lifestyle... it is obvious.
Our homes, vehicles, activities, the way we dress and adorn ourselves, all TESTIFY to whether we are primarily self focused (WOS) or other focused (KOS).
Jesus ushered in, and modeled, the Kingdom Operating System (KOS).
"It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be you slave, even as the Son of Man come not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." - Matthew 20:26-28
Under the Kingdom operating system our former operating system and apps cease to work, we gain new desires and utilize new apps (Spiritual Gifts) to help in achieving them. Our entire way of living becomes radically different, the concerns with "self" diminish while our affections for Christ and serving His followers increase.
This new way of living is so antithetical to our former (natural) lifestyle that Jesus Himself came to explain and demonstrate it for us. We are to live as He did in OBEDIENCE, which is self-denial and complete sacrificial other-focused love... to whatever extent God deems fit. While we rest, by faith, in the assurance that God loves us and is faithful to His promises (which we learn and dwell on through Holy Scripture... the Bible).
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." - Galatians 2:20
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