Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes — these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do. (NLT)

Have you ever heard the term “sailor’s mouth?” You know, when someone’s language and mannerisms are so crude it would make, well, a sailor, blush? I grew up with two brothers, one of whom was in the Navy, and I was active duty in the Air Force and worked primarily with men, so I kind of had a sailor’s mouth myself. Okay, I tried to soften that a little bit — I definitely had a sailor’s mouth. My talk was crude, my jokes were crude and inappropriate, and even my mannerisms were crude.

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Then, I got pregnant…

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At the same time as my pregnancy, my husband was diagnosed with cancer, and Jesus got a hold of my heart. You could call that the perfect storm for change…my upcoming precious little miracle (whom I could not even fathom talking and acting the way I did), the reality of mortality and fear of possibly losing my husband, and Jesus. I had to change my ways. I had to change my language. I had to change. And suddenly, not only did I need to change, I WANTED to change.

I see a lot of people who like the thought of following Jesus and what he has to offer, but they don’t want to change. They don’t want to worry about how they talk, how they joke, or how they act. They might even use this Scripture to support their argument: “See, I’m just not good enough, and I don’t know if I want to be. What fun is the ‘Christian’ talk, the ‘Christian’ way? I don’t think I want to be a part of that.”

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You know, I can tell you, I understand that. That was me. I wanted to have fun, I wanted to fit in, and I wanted to do what I wanted to do. Then Jesus got ahold of my heart…

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In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul lays out again how we are to act — and how we are not to act. In verse 11 he says, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (ESV). As Brian preached in week two of our Identity series, when we know who we were — dead in our sins and trespasses — we can fully appreciate and know who we are in Christ.

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You see, we don’t do all the “right” things by cleaning up our language and our behavior to be saved, but BECAUSE we were saved. We were washed, sanctified, and justified in Jesus’ name. And because of that, because we were first loved and saved by him, we WANT to clean up our lives. We want to put them in order. And instead of the crude talk, foul language, and obscene jokes, we can “Instead, let there be thankfulness to God” (Ephesians 5:4).

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Where might you need to flip the script and “clean up your act,” not to be saved but BECAUSE you were saved in Jesus? Does reflecting on who you were before you accepted the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice change how you want to conduct your life now? What would that look like?

Father, without you, we could never “clean up our act” enough to earn your righteousness. Help us to always remember who we were before we invited you into our lives and help that knowledge form who we are in you. Let our identity in you be so solid that we walk in confidence apart from the world and what it says we should be and do. Only by your grace and in your mercy Jesus ~ AMEN!