by Jerry Senn
“It’s amazing how many people are afraid to fly—even some seasoned travelers. They are scared to death of dying in a plane crash. Yet with odds like a hundred thousand to one, a person is more likely to be kicked to death by a donkey than die in a plane crash. People fear the possibility of being murdered in our crime-ridden society. Yet a person is eight times more likely to die playing a sport than to be shot by a stranger. People are afraid of dying on the operating table. Yet there is greater risk of dying in a car every day than we are in surgery; one in forty thousand die in auto accidents.
“It is ironic that we spend money on extremely long and improbable odds, and blithely ignore the relatively short odds that concern our health and well being such as … worrying excessively, or placing ourselves under constant and serious stress. Put another way, when it comes to risk, we are idiots.” (Max Anders)
In Ephesians Paul calls on us to break with our past and commit ourselves totally to following Christ.We are to … “put off the old self; … and put on the new self. The old self is separated from God. It is who we were before our conversion … dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked” (2:1–2, 11). It is who we were when Satan was in command of our lives … we were his slaves.
But, when we lay aside, like taking off an old coat and putting on a new one, we must leave behind those attitudes, habits, values, and actions that we had before we became a Christian. But the old self doesn’t want to be left behind. So, we fear what will happen when we simply follow Jesus.
Genuine faith will lead us to change what God asks us to change in our thinking and walking. Paul urges us to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph 4:1). He says “you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds” (4:17). He says, “put off the old self, which belongs to your former manner of life” (4:22), “let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths” (v 28). “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (v 30).
“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on your” (5:14).