Compromise

"Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all."
Colossians 3:9-11

It seems to me, that in today's society there is a belief that it is okay to not tell the truth. Kind of an "everybody does it" approach to things. The believer must not be caught up in this worldly belief. Paul is writing to the church at Colosse to encourage them, and to correct the false teaching of gnosticism that had invaded the church. The world and its practices were invading the church, and Paul is warning them to beware and not let it happen. So it is with not telling the truth. Believers should not have to be told this truth, and yet, I just spoke with a woman who told me that lying was rampant in the small town in which we live, a place where there is a church on every corner.

Paul is telling us that we have put off the old man, and that we have put on the new man, and that we have been renewed in Christ. We have been created in Him, we are a new creation. We no longer walk in the ways of the old man that we used to be. We are new. Not a Gentile, not a Jew, not anything else, but a Christian.

We once walked according to the ways of this world, before we were born again. We allowed ourselves to be blown around by everything the world wanted us to be and do. But now we have been changed. We have been given a new heart. We are created anew and afresh in Christ Jesus, to walk not as the world walks, but to walk with Him, to put off the old man and put on the new man which is found in Christ.

Beloved, it tells us in the book of Ephesians, in chapter 2, that we are God's workmanship. We are His creation, His poem, if you will. Let us walk a walk that is worthy of the calling which we have received. Let us live a consecrated life, a life dedicated and set apart for service unto God. Shalom.