14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”17“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”18 And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
We see this scripture used a lot to talk about Christians and relationships, and rightly so. but this scripture is also relevant to our past. When we become a believer in Christ, we are given a new identity or as Paul referred to it our new nature. The problem is that we can’t fully walk in the new identity until we deal with the old identity. Most of us have been imprinted by our upbringing and past life before coming to Christ. This includes family standards, expectations, and even unhealthy patterns such as abuse or addictions. Things that make up the sinful nature. These things become a part of who we are whether we like it or not. Yet these things have no place in our new identity. We still have the old habits and ways of thinking we’ve had our whole lives. They have become part of who we are. We must, “Therefore come out from among them and be separate”. But how?
Paul said that we are to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. But we cannot do this until we deal with the old sinful nature. Christ already dealt with our old self when He went to the cross.
13 When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, 14 having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!
Colossians 2:14-15
God has already dealt with our sinful nature and given us a new nature. Now our part is to allow God to show us the sinful nature such as old thought patterns, lifestyles, expectations of how we think things should be and how others should behave. Theses things are ingrained and must be rooted out and replaced with our identity in Christ. We do this by partnering with the Holy Spirit as he shows us things that must be dealt with. There is no easy fix. No cutting corners. Sometimes this can seem like a dark place we don’t want to go. The enemy wants you to believe that. The truth is it’s the only way to put off the old nature. Many Christians try and be good, do better and force themselves to wear the new nature on top of the old. It would be like buying a brand-new coat and putting it on over the old worn out coat. It may look better on the outside but underneath its still the old dirty inefficient coat. Not to mention the weight and loss of mobility of trying to function through your day with two coats on.
No, we must take off the old coat, examining it, remembering how the holes and dirt got there. Allowing the Lord to remind us of rips and tears from the past. Grieving the pain and loss from them brings healing and Gods perspective. Its only in knowing who we were and where we came from that we can begin to see who we really are in Christ. We must be willing go back if we want to go forward. The past is not our identity. Our Identity is found in our new nature in Christ.
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