Ephesians 4:19-27.

In addition to my pastoral role, I teach and write music for drums and percussion. Sometimes I will teach a drumline a way of playing a certain song or beat, and when we come back to it several days later, they’re playing it wrong again. They’ve slipped back into their old bad habits. I wish I had $5 for every time I’ve said over the years, “That’s not what I taught you!”

In this passage from Ephesians, Paul reminds his hearers not to slip into their old ways of living. “Set aside that old self!” he says. “Let God create something new in you!”

Today is Christmas Eve. It’s all about anticipating the new thing God did with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It’s a new birth; a new voice. It’s the Word that becomes flesh and lives among us so we can be created anew.

When this new creation happens in us, we won’t go on playing the same old sinful tune with our lives. We can play a new song of righteousness and holiness.

Author: Mark Hendrickson