I will never forget the day we ripped out the old, stained carpet in our church auditorium. Before losing eyesight, I had the joy of replacing the flooring with new, plush, commercial-grade carpet. In the early days of our church, we purchased 10,000 square feet of the cheapest carpet money could buy. Through the years, the wear and tear (and mostly coffee spills) stained and ruined the old carpet. What we needed was a renovation!
This is exactly what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Church at Colossae, “and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:10) The Greek word for renewed is where we get our English word “renovation.” Paul is literally saying that God desires to renovate our lives.
Notice, this renovation does not come at the time of salvation, but rather comes after we have put on the new self. This suggests the idea that God wants to constantly renovate us. One of the things I appreciate about Preaching Christ Church is that we constantly update, always improve, and always think how we can make things new. This is the idea of the Christian life. We should have a mentality that God is welcome to renovate us at any time.
The key to renovation is that as you rip out the old, which Paul identifies in verses 8 & 9, you have to replace the old with the new which he identifies in verses 12-14. When we ripped out the old carpet, we had to be ready to replace it with the new. As you allow God to rip out the old in your life, perhaps attitudes or behaviors, it is the knowledge of God’s Word that’s going to bring in the new.
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