It happens every year sometime during the week after Christmas. People all over the world grab their trash bags full of torn paper and leftover food and throw it into the back of their trucks. They then sort through the many different sizes of boxes and take them to their trucks as well. The professional “dump goers” will actually flatten the boxes to make it easier to place more in the back of their trucks. If you’re one of those who just throws your boxes away without flattening them….Shame on you! Sure, it takes a few more minutes, but it is so much easier when you get to the dump. People who carry boxes to the dump are sometimes very suspicious. That’s right…suspicious. Have you ever been caught trying to place a cardboard box in the cardboard dumpster? It happens. The dump police check your boxes, and if they find something as small as a plastic two-liter bottle cap in your box, they will make you remove it before placing the box in the dumpster. No lie! I’m serious. Cardboard boxes are serious business. However, if you flatten your boxes, there isn’t a chance the dump police will confiscate your boxes and question you for trying to slip something “non-cardboard” in the cardboard dumpster. How do you get out of that one? I guess you could just come clean and say that you were trying to get away with placing plastic in the cardboard container. You could also play the “I didn’t know it was there” card. Most dump police can see right through that. I know because I’ve been caught before. Have you?
Seriously, removing the packaging materials from your house is the first step to regaining your sanity following all the traveling and busyness of Christmas. Think about it. Just several weeks ago people were placing gifts in boxes, wrapping them with matching wrapping paper, and placing or tying the most beautiful bows on them. The gifts are beautiful. At some point, the packaging is ripped off only to show the real gift. The packaging is so beautiful, but the real gift usually has nothing to do with the packaging at all. I remember one time when I bought my wife some jewelry for Christmas. By the way guys, jewelry is usually a good way to go for Christmas gifts. I wrapped it in this huge box and put a brick in the box. I was trying to deceive her with the packaging. It was heavy, it was big, but it was really not what it seemed. Sometimes we are the same way. We package ourselves well, but what’s on the inside is totally different than what someone would expect to see.
I think it is important at the end of a year to reflect. We should reflect on the Holy Spirit and His influence and impact in our lives. We should reflect on our own influence and impact in the lives of those around us. We should reflect on our authenticity. Are we who we say we are? Do we do what we say we will do? Do we live lives that reflect Christ? Let’s look at Ephesians 4:17-25.
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Christ-followers are different from those who do not follow Christ (17-20).
People without Christ do not understand spiritual things.
People without Christ do not have a spiritual relationship with God.
People with Christ understand spiritual things.
People with Christ should have a spiritual relationship with God.
Christ-followers should live differently than those who do not follow Christ (21-22).
People without Christ live corrupt lives.
People without Christ have deceitful desires.
People with Christ should not live corrupt lives.
People with Christ should not have deceitful desires.
Christ-followers should live with a different power than those who do not follow Christ (23-24).
People with Christ should be constantly renewed.
People with Christ should put on the new self.
People with Christ should live with right character (relationship with others).
People with Christ should live in holiness (relationship with God).
We accomplish all of these through the power lf the Holy Spirit!
We might know who we are, how we should live, and that the Holy Spirit provides for us, but what is the process?
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).
We “put off” by believing in Christ (Romans 6:4)
Our initial salvation experience is the dying to self and putting off the old self. In essence putting off is an act of repentance. We turn away from the old and turn toward the new.
We “put on” by walking in Grace (Romans 6:4)
New believers are no longer bound to keep every letter of the law. It isn’t possible. Therefore, we must walk in the understanding of God’s grace in our lives. We understand that it is not possible to sin in such a way as to lose salvation. Neither should we sin more that grace abounds more (Romans 6:1-2). We can and should walk with confidence in God’s grace in our lives. This grace is undeserved forgiveness, love, and strength through the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in grace.
We “put away” by resting in the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:4)
There are certain sins that we should put away. It is man’s responsibility through the power of the Holy Spirit to put away those things that hinder our relationship with God and others. This is where we walk in newness of life. You can look at Ephesians 4:25-32 to see what this newness of life should resemble.
How do you package your life? Think hard about it before you answer. Do you put on the “church face” on Sundays and go to church while really living an unsaved life? Does the packaging in your life make you look good while at the same time cover the hidden and habitual sins in your life? Does the packaging in your life actually resemble who you are in Christ? Perhaps as the end of the year quickly approaches, maybe we should all take an honest inventory. Are we who we say we are, and who do we say we are? Are we honestly living a new life in Christ, or are we just enjoying the pretty packaging of our lives without any thought to our integrity in Christ? Are we authentically following Christ?
When people look at you, the packaging really does matter. Does your wrapping authentically show others who you follow?