Those of us who are homeowners know the chores of taking care of a house. Plunge this, reattach that, replace all of those, and the list goes on.
One thing we cannot let go is the exterior of our home. Weather beats at the siding, the sun tortures the trim, and any leaks are a disaster in the making.
We have to keep our home in premium condition, if it is to serve us well for a lifetime. One of the most obvious things we can tackle is replacing old, cracked paint with new.
There is a caveat to this, though. If we simply apply fresh paint to the old, it won’t hold. It will crack and peel, sloughing off, leaving the surface uglier than before. In addition, it will leave cracks and crevasses that can collect dirt and moisture, creating the opportunity for the damage to become greater than before.
The solution? Remove all the old paint. We can scrape, apply paint remover, and even sand, but the old paint must come off. Only then will the new paint bond with the wood, becoming a permanent part of the surface.
We are like an old house before we come to Christ. We are no longer in premium condition. We are battered with the sins of the world, and they have left their mark on us. Paul, in Colossians 3:5-9, tells three things we must do, in order that we may become new in Christ.
First, we must scrape the damaged areas.
Scraping the paint on a house is just the first step. It removes the most obvious damage, that paint that is hanging loose, ready to fall away.
Paul says to mortify ourselves. This means to deaden our sensitivity to those things that lead us into sin, especially those involving immorality and passion. In addition, we must learn to put aside greed and the desire for things of this world. These are the obvious sins, the ones that are easy to see. We must pull out our paint scraper and let those things become no more than crumbling shards of detritus to be swept into the trash bin.
Next, our job is to apply paint remover to the rest.
Once the loose paint is gone, then we get to the stuff that is stuck tight. It must be removed, though, because it will begin to turn loose once we apply the fresh paint, and it will destroy the integrity of the new finish. Only paint remover will take this off.
What does Paul encourage us to tackle with our paint remover? What are those sins that are harder to remove? Anger, getting even with other people, and off-color language. These cling to us like a second skin, and they will destroy the integrity of our walk with Jesus.
Finally, we have to sand the surface smooth.
Scraping can gouge the surface of the wood, and paint remover opens the grain, leaving ridges and valleys that can collect dirt and moisture. Only sanding will smooth these out, creating an ideal surface for our new coat of paint.
How can we sand our earthly man in order to put on the newness of Christ? Paul says that we are not to lie to one another. If we do so, we may put on the new paint of Christ, but the surface will be gouged and rough, and the dirt of sin will soon begin to collect on us once more.
God is our building inspector. He is the one that looks over the job we’ve done and decides whether we are worth our hire. God cannot abide sin in any form. When he finds the perfection of Jesus coating our mortal man, he will speak his words of approval unto us, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
When we put off the old man, we must scrape and sand to make sure he is completely gone. Only then will Jesus become a permanent part of who we are.
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