We are NOT to walk- to live- in the vanity of our minds. Yesterday we touched on what the Biblical term for vanity meant. In a nutshell it means -
'The moral depravity of our minds, the emptiness, unsatisfactory, transitory existence of our minds. The moral depravity, emptiness of our intellect, our understanding- in thought, feeling, or will.'
Without Christ we have a moral depravity at work in us. We live in vain, truly. The purpose of our existence ultimately means absolutely nothing if we do not believe in our Savior, Jesus Christ.
1Co_15:32 … let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
If we do not believe in a BETTER life (not an instant afterlife- I can't find Biblical proof for such a thing) but a better life ultimately where every single Christ believing human being who has surrendered their lives to Him in all truth- will live, then we live in vain. From Noah, Abraham, Joseph, David, John, Stephen, and many others right down to you and I, we will all be raised up either from our graves, or from the earth still living and our being changed- to meet the Lord in the air and from that point on we will be with Him forevermore. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17)
This is hope. This is living with truth. This is not living in vain, but with great purpose and that purpose is CHRIST, not ourselves.
Let's read the rest of the passage-
Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Eph 4:19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Eph 4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
Eph 4:21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Eph 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
Eph 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Eph 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
We either exist in the vanity of our minds, or we have our minds renewed in spirit.
Our minds. Yes, we all have them, contrary to the belief of some having supposedly lost theirs. Our minds- our decision making capabilities lie in our minds. All the knowledge we possess is right there in our minds. And we get to CHOOSE to be mind blind if we desire. You read that right. Mind blind. We can choose to not believe and we will be allowed not to believe. We will be left to our vain minds, void of the heart of truth of our very reason for existence. We choose. We come up with reason why we shouldn't believe. We lie to ourselves and believe those lies eagerly because we do not want truth. We get caught up in the deception that ultimately will lead to nothing but our destruction. The sweetest, most kind person you know in your life could be caught up in the vanity of their minds and subsequently will not live a life of purpose in Christ Jesus. Shaking your head are you? Not believing that can be true, right? Well, it is truth and the blindness shrouding your mind will keep you deceived to the truth.
Let's talk a moment about the spirit of our mind being renewed,
Psa 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psa 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Psa 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Psa 51:13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Psa 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
Psa 51:15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
Psa 51:16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
God will renew a right spirit with us, through the Holy Spirit.
Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Again, God will give us a new spirit.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Non-conformity to the world (for the world as a majority walks in the vanity of their minds), but transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
We put on the new man- renewed in knowledge of Christ. Therein is our hope of no longer living a life in the vanity of our minds.
Tit 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit;
Tit 3:6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour
We are spiritually washed and renewed, regenerated by the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
This is truth! A vain, carnal mind is death. A spiritual mind is life and peace, spiritual peace.
1Pe 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ
Our minds will forever offer us choices until we think no more as we sleep death's sleep, or are otherwise mentally incapacitated.
You will never wake up without the ability to choose that very day whether to live in the vanity of your mind or in the mind renewed by the Holy Spirit.
Php_3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
We press towards the mark.
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We run the race with patience.
May our minds be renewed BY the Holy Spirit!
May God help us towards this end found only in Him!
All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, now and forever!
'The moral depravity of our minds, the emptiness, unsatisfactory, transitory existence of our minds. The moral depravity, emptiness of our intellect, our understanding- in thought, feeling, or will.'
Without Christ we have a moral depravity at work in us. We live in vain, truly. The purpose of our existence ultimately means absolutely nothing if we do not believe in our Savior, Jesus Christ.
1Co_15:32 … let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
If we do not believe in a BETTER life (not an instant afterlife- I can't find Biblical proof for such a thing) but a better life ultimately where every single Christ believing human being who has surrendered their lives to Him in all truth- will live, then we live in vain. From Noah, Abraham, Joseph, David, John, Stephen, and many others right down to you and I, we will all be raised up either from our graves, or from the earth still living and our being changed- to meet the Lord in the air and from that point on we will be with Him forevermore. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17)
This is hope. This is living with truth. This is not living in vain, but with great purpose and that purpose is CHRIST, not ourselves.
Let's read the rest of the passage-
Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Eph 4:19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Eph 4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
Eph 4:21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Eph 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
Eph 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Eph 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
We either exist in the vanity of our minds, or we have our minds renewed in spirit.
Our minds. Yes, we all have them, contrary to the belief of some having supposedly lost theirs. Our minds- our decision making capabilities lie in our minds. All the knowledge we possess is right there in our minds. And we get to CHOOSE to be mind blind if we desire. You read that right. Mind blind. We can choose to not believe and we will be allowed not to believe. We will be left to our vain minds, void of the heart of truth of our very reason for existence. We choose. We come up with reason why we shouldn't believe. We lie to ourselves and believe those lies eagerly because we do not want truth. We get caught up in the deception that ultimately will lead to nothing but our destruction. The sweetest, most kind person you know in your life could be caught up in the vanity of their minds and subsequently will not live a life of purpose in Christ Jesus. Shaking your head are you? Not believing that can be true, right? Well, it is truth and the blindness shrouding your mind will keep you deceived to the truth.
Let's talk a moment about the spirit of our mind being renewed,
Psa 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psa 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Psa 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Psa 51:13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Psa 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
Psa 51:15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
Psa 51:16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
God will renew a right spirit with us, through the Holy Spirit.
Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Again, God will give us a new spirit.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Non-conformity to the world (for the world as a majority walks in the vanity of their minds), but transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
We put on the new man- renewed in knowledge of Christ. Therein is our hope of no longer living a life in the vanity of our minds.
Tit 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit;
Tit 3:6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour
We are spiritually washed and renewed, regenerated by the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
This is truth! A vain, carnal mind is death. A spiritual mind is life and peace, spiritual peace.
1Pe 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ
Our minds will forever offer us choices until we think no more as we sleep death's sleep, or are otherwise mentally incapacitated.
You will never wake up without the ability to choose that very day whether to live in the vanity of your mind or in the mind renewed by the Holy Spirit.
Php_3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
We press towards the mark.
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We run the race with patience.
May our minds be renewed BY the Holy Spirit!
May God help us towards this end found only in Him!
All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, now and forever!