The Path of Godliness

Dealing with the old man

22 You were taught to leave your old self—to stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self becomes worse, because people are fooled by the evil things they want to do. 23 But you were taught to be made new in your hearts, 24 to become a new person. That new person is made to be like God—made to be truly good and holy. - Ephesians 4:22-24 (NCV)

What is the old man, you might ask? The old man is the condition of man in his rebellion. It's the condition of man in his fallen nature. Man cannot live independent of God. Without God, we are left to our evil ways and evil destruction. Why? Man without God is man in his rebellion. 

being darkened in their understanding, []excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; - Ephesians 4:18 (NASB)

There are four conditions that describe the condition of man in his rebellion : darkened, separated, ignorant and hardened. While many fail to realize it, it is all true. We cannot do well without God. From the time of the fall in the garden, we see how the life of man deteriorated into corruption. The nature of the fallen man is to grow in wickedness. 

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of []their hearts was only evil continually. - Genesis 6:5 (NASB)

Sometimes when we see certain portions of the bible, we don't take our time to digest the word of God. The nature of an unsaved man is very bad. Even the best of an unsaved person is still pretty bad. Somehow, everyone thinks if we can just be good enough, we might make heaven. Going to Heaven has nothing to do with being good or bad, but has everything to do with choosing the life of Jesus, and we can only embrace the life of Jesus when we give our lives to Him. 

The bible says, "and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually." The bible is still the most relevant book you'll ever read. When you look at how the world works, you can only agree with God that man is truly wicked. And when we come to Christ, we have to learn to deal with the old sinful nature. I think this scripture above should make us see our need for God. Even as believers, we don't always get it right. But that's why we are learning. We have to train ourselves to hear the voice of God. We can learn to walk in the ways of God by following the patterns laid out for us in the bible. 

                                                                 What is the condition of your heart?

"The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it? - Jeremiah 17:9 (NASB)

All my life I heard the expression, "trust your heart" and when we hear such words, we'd feel at peace and then make whatever decisions that we want to make. But no! Don't trust your heart. The heart is the life of man. Everything we are, is a result of the condition of our heart. The heart of man is also synonymous with the spirit of man. When the bible says heart, it really means our spirit. The real you is your heart. You can know a lot about a person when you know their heart. 

We have also heard expressions like, "he has a good heart. Or she has a good heart." Words you'd hear if perhaps you wanted to date somebody. Why the heart? The heart of man is his life. What is in our hearts? When we feel pain, it affects our heart. When we feel betrayed, it affects our hearts. If we sin, it's because we have allowed our heart to be contaminated. Every time, we ought to check the condition of the heart, because, if we can keep our hearts healthy, we can have a godly life. Now, a person who is unsaved cannot walk like Christ. It is impossible! That's why, the first chapter deals with our salvation. If you are not saved, you might want to go back to the first chapter and come back later.