Are We Two People?

Sometimes people act differently depending on the occasion, location, or people they are with. A person may be outgoing with friends and family, and shy and reserved when with strangers. Perhaps someone who is normally quite rambunctious must settle down for an important event - like a wedding. There are many examples of when we may need to mould ourselves to a certain situation to fit that situation. This isn’t a problem for us, as Christians, unless we are doing these changes at the expense of our Christianity - at the expense of our Christ-like behaviour.

Some “Christians” may pick up their faith at the door of the church building and take it off when leaving. They try to be two people - they try to be a new man while keeping the old man.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t fly. You can’t be both cold and hot. If you mix cold water and hot water, the water becomes lukewarm. This spiritual temperature is something that the Lord hates (Revelation 3:16).

We can’t be two people! We can be a new person or remain our old self. There is no way we can be both.

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one 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.

Being a Christian, we need to have put off the old man. We need to completely remove that old self and avoid the sinful activities that we may have participated in before.

In the above verse, we don’t read of putting off the old man at the door of the church building, putting on the new man as we enter in for Sunday worship. It also obviously doesn’t tell us to remove the new man and put the old man back on when leaving after worship.

One can’t be two persons and expect to be pleasing in God’s sight. We can’t serve two masters (Matthew 6:24)! Are you two people?

                -- John Thrower Jr.