It is very easy to discard the wonderful realities of the new creation that Jesus procured for us if you are not mindful of them. You have to be on guard each day to ensure that your experiences and expectations are shaped by them. Do not be careless and undermine their manifestations in your life.

I will show you one of the ways that you can unknowingly undermine these wonderful blessings in everyday life. On a particular occasion, I had a conversation with someone on the game of Soccer and the following ensued:

Me: I love to listen to the commentaries that go on during the half time in between the playing.

My Friend: I prefer to watch the actual game. The analyses by those chaps in the studio bore me stiff. I wouldn’t notice if that segment was totally eliminated from the telly.

Me:  Well, it’s different for me. I actually enjoy listening to the commentaries taking place in the studio about the flow of play, the different coaches’ strategies, the moves of the players and the like.  Even when I am watching political debates, I am more interested in the commentaries and analysis that go on in between the breaks. It doesn’t stop there; whenever I read an article on the internet, I am much more interested in the comment section. Sometimes I just sit back in my study going through comments and just laughing and having a good time. So I tend to enjoy the comments much more than the actual articles themselves.

My Friend: [Sits back, like she got some revelation, an epiphany; and she looks at me with this guru-like awareness on her face] Wow! That means your passion is to learn what other people are thinking about things.

Me:  No way! That’s not my passion. My passion is God. David said in Psalm twenty seven, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” My only passion is God.

You know what? She was presenting me with a mirror of my old self. She tried to describe me in terms of my old self, of my natural person, what I like as a person. But it came to me at that point to shun that reflection, to reject that mirror and embrace my new self.

So always, as you discuss with people, as you participate in conversations and talks, the Bible says, “Be sober, be vigilant.” Because your adversary the devil is always trying to find a way to sell you a picture of what you’re not. It’ll come out in a good way because he’s very subtle. But always be careful as you live, as you interact with people, not to put on the old self again. Always keep putting it off, and embrace your 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