Out With the Old In With the New

Hello friends! So, lately God has been revealing many things to me about my new word for 2024 - 'understanding'. I prayed over it and decided to make these new revelations into a series. This series will be a little different than my previous ones though, because I want this to be a project that I work on all year long as I explore this word and what God teaches me through it.

My blog has always been about sharing my walk with Christ, so I am a little surprised that I didn't do this with my previous 'words of the year'. Especially since my word transforms into new meanings as the year goes on and as I go through different circumstances and seasons. Though I have always documented my word through a single post, I have never done anything this deep and so I am excited to share it you. I hope God speaks to you through this series as well and you learn right along with me.

{If you are unsure what I mean about 'my word for the year', here is a little context so that we are on the same page:

For the past few years, at the beginning of the year, I have been praying and asking God for a word. You could call this word a landmark, something that I can keep coming back to to reflect on throughout the year. I never hear these words from God audibly. Instead, God intercedes my thoughts. This experience comes with a fullness, or a warmth, that seems to radiate straight from my heart. It is hard for me to explain, but not hard for me to notice. It overcomes me out of the blue and in a way that leaves me without a doubt that it's God, truly God, and not just my own thoughts. Long story short, my 'word of the year' has always summed up the year beautifully and in ways that I could never imagine or guess beforehand.}

Now, onto what God has been revealing to me about this new word of mine. This year, I have decided to read the Bible in chronological order, or in the order that the events occurred, which placed me in the book of Job in mid-January. And man is there so much on understanding in this book! I took so many notes as things kept jumping off the page at me. But after going through the entire book of Job, the big takeaway was this:

"And to man He said, 'Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding."

Job 28:28 (NKJV)

This verse basically defines my word for me! Not to mention that it provides a definition to a word that is similar to it. I do want to dive into different synonyms or 'similar words' of understanding in other installations of this series, and also expand upon this definition of wisdom that we see here, but for now I want to tell you what I got out the definition of understanding and how it got shaped by God's word.

"...And to depart from evil is understanding."

Currently in my church, we are going through the book of Colossians. But I want to home in on chapter 3 specifically. In this chapter, Paul writes about the things we should 'put to death' or 'put off' and the things we should 'put on'. Let's start with the things we should 'put to death' or 'put off' and how it links up with the definition we got from our Job verse. {Keep in mind that I am only touching on certain things here, things that I want to highlight, so I am not going into the full context of the chapter. I encourage you to read it for yourself if you want more context.}

Therefore put to death your members which are on earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Colossians 3: 5 (NKJV)

Notice the underlined word above and how it cross references to our handy Bible definition for understanding. To 'depart from evil' and to 'put to death evil desire' basically mean the same thing. To put it another way: if it's not good, stay away from it. There is even more advice like this that comes from this chapter:

But now, you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

Colossians 3:8-10 (NKJV)

As the pastor read this verse, I got so excited because, at the very beginning of the year, God told me that my word 'understanding' was linked to the word 'renewal'. Although this verse doesn't specifically use the word 'understanding', it does use the word 'knowledge'. Which begs the question, can these two words be used interchangeably? What is the difference between knowledge and understanding? I wasn't sure, but no worries, friends, I Googled it.

From my quick Google search, I have gathered that the word 'knowledge' refers to the facts/skills/information that one gathers or acquires through education or experience whereas the word 'understanding', when used as a noun, refers to the ability of someone to grasp something. But this, my friends, is my rebuttal: after the grasping said 'something', doesn't the thing you once were attempting to understand, now having been understood, become knowledge? Also, isn't having the ability to grasp something, in itself, having knowledge? I could write a whole blog post on this discussion alone, but I am stopping here and making this executive decision- it counts.

When God first told me that my word 'understanding' connected with the word 'renewal', I couldn't really see how at the time. I did guess that it had something to do with the newness of life that we discover when we accept Jesus as our Savior. After all, it's that process of learning what it means to be like Christ that ultimately leads us to have more understanding of His ways. And here it was... in God's word... in black and white. At least, for the most part. Either way, it was confirmation!

So, the 'new man' (i.e. the 'new way of life' or the 'new self') that we 'put on' after we accept Christ 'is renewed in knowledge according to the image of God'. Meaning? Pretty much, as we grow in faith, continuing to ditch the 'old man' (i.e. the 'old way of life' or the 'old self') and instead strive to be like Christ, we are 'refined' or 'renewed' in our understanding of what it means to truly reflect the image of God. Wow, if that doesn't paint a picture of God wants, not just for me, but for all of us, I don't know what does.

Speaking of that 'new way of life' that we ought to 'put on', let's continue in Colossians chapter 3:

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

Colossians 3:12-14 (NKJV)

This, my friends, is how we mirror Christ. These are the ways of God and what we must strive to do. Just grasping these few sentences shapes our understanding of God dramatically.

And yes, though we strive to ultimately mirror Christ, backsliding into the ways of the 'old man' is bound to happen because of our sinful nature. I picture this as a muddy bank that we slide down when we lose our focus on Christ and therefore slip on one of the enemy's traps. It's something that is unavoidable. So, what do we do when we end up at the bottom of the bank covered in metaphorical mud?

There is only one thing to do. Repent and strive to embody the ways of the 'new man' once again. Repentance cleanses us of that mud which gives us a fresh start to begin anew.

I mentioned at the beginning of this blog how I have gleamed so much from going through the book of Job, so what better way to sum it all up than recalling another morsel from that piece of text? Toward the end of the book, Job cries out to God in repentance:

"I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

Job 42:5-6

Job did hate his sinful nature, but when he said, "therefore I abhor myself," it was a call to action. He was essentially saying:

• I withdraw from myself and my sinful nature.

• I ditch these ways of mine and choose, instead, God's ways.

• I cast away these habits of the 'old man'.

• I refuse to wallow in this mud from my backsliding.

I think we all need a 'in with the new out with the old' spiritual mindset. We need to always be actively rebuking the ways of the 'old man', to abhor them, and repent in complete humility when we backslide down the muddy bank.

While writing this out, I am learning something else about my word, my friends. Understanding is not an easy word and it's not an easy word to write about either. The word itself sounds simple, but it is anything but simple. The word rolls off the tongue and sounds pretty, but it shines a light on the ugliness of my sinful nature. Writing about understanding feels like I am standing in a spotlight that is revealing just how many times I've found myself covered in the mud of backsliding. Every day I fail my Father. There isn't a single day that goes by that I find myself a good representative of Christ.

I realize now exactly why God was quick to tell me that renewal and understanding are connected. Though understanding may reveal the mud left behind by my sin, He offers renewal. In His open hand is a fresh start anytime I need it. Even if it's every day or multiple times a day.

Because of my need for renewal, in the gaining and storing up of understanding, I can never boast. After all, He's not giving me this understanding to build up my 'self image', but He is preparing me. He is arming me with this knowledge with the intent to have me use it one day to bring Him glory, which I have to be honest, absolutely terrifies me.

So what do I do about this fear? I have to drop it at His feet, get up, strive to reflect the perfect image of Christ, prepare to get muddy in the process, and TRUST. I have to trust that, throughout my walk, He knows what He is doing. I have to trust that He will prepare me for anything He throws my way. I have to trust that there is always more to learn and that every backslide is a lesson. I have to trust that there is always renewal in the palm of His open hand waiting for me.

I have to grasp joy also, even though I know that I will never be able to fully reach my goal of putting off the 'old man'. "What's the point of trying then?", some may ask, "What could you possibly get out of constant failure?" but the treasure isn't reaching the goal. No, the real treasure is found along the way, while walking that path with God and seeing the beauty of His ways.