Put
Off…Put On
By Tracy Smith
“…throw off your old
sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and
deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and
attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God - - truly righteous
and holy.”
Ephesians
4:22-24 (NLT)
Recently,
my 15-year-old son, Josh, hurt his foot in gym class and needed an x-ray. While
his foot was fine, the radiologist saw something in his ankle that needed
further looking at. After an x-ray of the ankle, it was determined that he had
a cyst in the fibula bone. Due to the fact that these cysts weaken the bone and
Josh is an athlete, it was recommended that we see an orthopedic specialist for
a consultation. The pediatrician explained that the specialist would decide if
the cyst could just be watched or if it needed to be fixed. If it needed to be
fixed, that involved draining out the cystic material and filling the hole with
“bone-like material.” That did not sound pleasant!
Luckily,
the orthopedic specialist said Josh’s cyst is one he believes will reabsorb and
does not need surgery - - just another x-ray in six months to check up on it.
All
of this got me to thinking about the above verses. If Josh’s cyst would have
been one that needed to be fixed, it would not be enough to just drain the
cystic material. That would leave a void in the bone that would make it even
weaker and allow more bad stuff to fill the void. In order to heal the bone,
once the bad was out, it needed to be replaced with something good.
As
Christ-followers, when we stop a bad habit or yield as God cleans something
nasty out of our heart, we must ask Him to replace it with something good or we
will fall back into our bad habit. We cannot just try to deal with our anger,
we must replace it with self-control. We cannot just decide to stop being
ungrateful, we need to replace it with gratefulness.
Just
like a cyst that needs to be fixed, good must replace the bad in order for
healing to occur.
GOING
DEEPER:
1.
I Googled “Put off, Put on” and found this wonderful list of traits/habits to
put off, put on with corresponding Scripture. Click on the link
to see the list and Scripture. Find what you need to work on hand-in-hand with
the Holy Spirit and look up the Scripture.
FURTHER
READING:
Along with being a
wife and mother to two boys, Tracy is an ministry assistant at Oakwood, serves
on the Women’s Ministry Special Events Team and works with a great group of
Junior High girls.
