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.

Are you one of those people that check expiration dates on the food in your refrigerator? Do you toss it out and buy a new one, or do you keep it and continue to use it? Or, like I find myself doing sometimes, I keep the expired one and still buy a new one! On a much bigger scale, Paul is telling the church at Ephesus to do what I probably should do – to just throw out what is corrupt and not good!

A little background…the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus can be found in Turkey near the modern-day town of Selcuk with a population of just 38 thousand people. Today, Ephesus is mainly ruins, and yet approximately 1.5 million Christians visit the site each year. At its peak, which was during Paul’s visit, the city had over 250 thousand inhabitants. One of the main draws of the city was the Temple of Artemis, dedicated to Greek goddess Artemis who was worshipped as the goddess of nature and children. The temple is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Things went so far with Paul that In Acts 19:23-41, a riot erupted over Paul’s preaching of Christ because it was bad for business for the silversmiths who made trinkets for temple worship. This is the culture Paul was facing during his time with the small church of Ephesus.

In this passage, Paul is telling the church to throw out the old idol worship completely and embrace the one true, living Christ, to turn from their sinful nature and instead allow Christ in to take its place. It would have been so easy for Paul to ignore the culture around him and just stay in his lane, trying hard not to upset anyone. After all, couldn’t the old way of believing exist simultaneously with what the new believers had discovered? It wouldn’t hurt anything…right? Well, if you believe Jesus’ teaching then you know that it is impossible to worship Christ and also worship other things in our lives. He demands and is worthy of our undivided worship.

Easier said than done, right? Especially if the thing you need to remove from your life has been a part of you ever since you can remember. Maybe it is a toxic relationship or friends that do not have the same beliefs that you have since you started following Christ. Could it be lust, or something in your life that has become an idol? When we think about it, each of us probably knows what God desires to root out of that place of worship or idolatry in our lives.

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For me, one of the biggest strongholds in my life was chewing tobacco. I started the habit in the 6th grade when a buddy gave me a dip! Believe it or not, that part of my former life stayed with me over 30 years and far into my relationship with Christ. It was everything I just mentioned: a toxic relationship, lust, an unsupportive old friend – it was an idol to me. My life revolved around it. It took my wife having to battle cancer, something that she had no control over, for me to realize that something I chose not to give Christ had control over me and would lead to my death. Essentially, I chose to serve two masters, one would lead to life and the other would lead to death.

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I’m blessed to say it has been over eight years since something as small as tobacco ruled my life. Christ took its place. He made it possible for the Spirit to renew my mind and my thoughts and desires. He can do that for you too! But we must choose to turn to him instead of it. If it’s an addiction, lust, toxic relationship or whatever God is putting on your heart, find your reason to turn from it and put on your new nature, letting Christ be the only one who fills you up.

Sweet Jesus, I need you and only you. I need your strength to cast out the thing in my life that has become a master and is robbing me of the life that you offer. Help me to put on my new nature, that I may be righteous and holy. Lord, give me the courage and strength to do my part and throw away the thing in my life that is no good. In your Son’s name I pray, Amen.