An amazing reality that Jesus brought in through His death, resurrection, and glorification is the divine nature.
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your mind; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
~ Ephesians 4: 22-24
One of the new things that came into being through Jesus’ atoning work on the Cross is your new self; also called your new nature. This new nature that Jesus ushered in, is a divine nature; because the bible tells us that it is created to be like God. It is designed to be like God.
In the above scripture, two selves are plainly seen: the ‘old self’ and the ‘new self’. Take careful note of that.
You see I speak a lot about ‘discover yourself’. I’m known around the world today as a ‘discover yourself’ coach, guru, pastor; folks call me all sort of things. I have the message of self-discovery. And some time ago, someone came to my blog; a pastor from somewhere in North America. He said that I was teaching some kind of a mix of New Age and Word of Faith doctrines. He criticized my teaching, saying that rather than saying ‘discover yourself’, I should say ‘discover Christ’. But you see that person is quite ignorant of what this message is all about because in the Bible we actually encounter two selves: the ‘old self’ and the ‘new self’.
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your mind; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
~ Ephesians 4: 22-24
In the above verse there are two selves mentioned by Apostle Paul. Recently, during a teaching on this subject, I asked the question : “When I talk about discover yourself, which self am I talking about”. Some people in the audience smartly answered, “the new self”. My answer to that question, however, was “No”. The reason is that when I say “discover yourself,” I’m actually to both selves: Discover your old self and discover your new self.
You discover your old self, so you can put it off.
You discover your new self, so you can put it on.
When you discover something about yourself, you ask, “Which self is this?” And if you find out it’s the old self, the Adamic natural self, you have the right to put it off.
On the other hand, if you discover that it is the new self, the Christ divine self, particularly when you read the Scriptures, then you put it on. When you look into the word of God and discover something about yourself, and you realize this is an attribute of your new self, put it on.