BE that new person...

There are principles taught throughout scripture where opposite things get "cloned" together as instruction:  Leave and cleave, stop and begin again, turn away and return.  In these moments of instruction we find ourselves being challenged to stop being or doing something one way and then be or do something the totally opposite way.  Why?  In each case, there is something different we are called into.  The way we have been living is to be left behind and we are to embrace a new way of living.  It may not seem obvious at first, but when we receive this instruction and actually take the necessary steps to follow it, our lives begin to change.  When we leave one thing and move into another we are experiencing a new perspective in life.  For example, when we move from one place of residence to a new one, we leave behind a whole lot of memories in the old place, but we are beginning to make new ones in the one we will take up residence in.  We leave, stop, and turn away from the old house. Then we cleave, begin again, and return to the "normalcy" of living again in our new house.  If you have ever returned to an old neighborhood, you might be surprised to realize all the changes which have gone on without you there - things you neither knew about, nor did you participate in.  Life goes on, but it goes on without you.  In life, we leave lots of things behind, but some of what we leave behind is best left in the past, if you know what I mean.

You were taught to leave your old self. This means that you must stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self gets worse and worse, because people are fooled by the evil they want to do. You must be made new in your hearts and in your thinking. Be that new person who was made to be like God, truly good and pleasing to him. (Ephesians 4:22-24 ERV)

To leave implies we stop doing something or going somewhere.  In my mind, there are a lot things I have stopped doing, but you would never know it - simply because these were battles I fought in my mind.  Some of them were in the choice of words I used when angry or frustrated.  Other things I stopped dealt with how I responded to certain stimuli - actually changing my response to something a little less self-centered.  Why are these things important to share? If we want to be somewhere we are not presently, we have to take the steps to get to where it is we want to be.  We have to stop being and become.  It is a process of transition - movement from one place to another.  It doesn't matter whether it is physical movement, or that which takes place within our minds and hearts in the changing of the way we think to the way we respond to certain stimuli.  We leave and cleave, stop and start again, repent and return.  

We are told to leave behind our old self - our old way of making choices (independent of God), our old way of responding to challenges (handling them ourselves or curling up into a fetal position paralyzed to all movement), and our old way of relating to one another (thinking of self first, others last).  The message is clear - either leave the old and take up with the new, or face the reality that you will get worse and worse (deeper and deeper into) because of the choices you are making.  Every compromise we make today becomes the means by which new ideas will be entertained tomorrow (ideas we never thought we'd ever think).  There is a power behind compromise which we sometimes neglect to see until it has us fully engulfed in some compromise so deep we see no way out.

We were made to be like God.  In being born with a sin nature, we need to have this nature exchanged in order to become the new man or woman he has created us to be.  We are made new in our hearts when we leave and cleave - laying down the old way of "doing business" in our lives, and taking up the new way of doing business - fully reliant upon grace, his goodness, and his direction. This seems foreign to us at first, because we are not used to living dependent upon another, seeing it as a form of weakness at times.  We worked so hard to get to a place of independence in life and now we are being asked to become dependent upon God.  What a struggle this is for us!  We had developed one way of thinking, only to find it was flawed and just not accomplishing what we hoped it would.  Now we must rely upon a new way of thinking - one which begins with the question, "What would you like me to do here, Lord?", instead of one which begins with, "What would make me happy here?"

We pursue all manner of thought and action we "hope" will make us "happy". In fact about a week ago, I heard someone talk about needing to do things which make US happy and stop worrying so much about the other person.  It caught my attention, even though that individual was not speaking with me, simply because the idea of pleasing self is so prevalent in society's instructions today. We hear it more than we might imagine - with media inundating us with the message in subtle ways.  Please self - you cannot eat just one Lay's potato chip. Please self - VROOM, VROOM.  Please self - your dream vacation awaits you. In everyday life, we are instructed to find what pleases us and pursue it.  God never instructs us to focus on self, but to serve others.  Herein is our biggest challenge - leaving "us" behind and taking up the instruction to "live for another".  Yet, if we want to really be "happy" (content, fulfilled, and purposeful) in our pursuit of life, we will embrace the instruction to lay down our lives to live for another.  Leave and cleave.  Just sayin!

Leaving and cleaving

I know the passage I chose for today is a message to Israel - to turn from their wandering after other gods and to return to their first love - God himself.  Yet, in the words which unfold, there is some great teaching for everyone of God's kids.  I hope you will give me the liberty to share just a few thoughts from the passage below.

Out of here! Out of here! Leave this place!  Don’t look back. Don’t contaminate yourselves with plunder.  Just leave, but leave clean. Purify yourselves in the process of worship, carrying the holy vessels of God. But you don’t have to be in a hurry.  You’re not running from anybody!  God is leading you out of here,  and the God of Israel is also your rear guard.  (Isaiah 52:11-12 MSG)

There are times when we plainly hear God telling us to beat a path in the totally opposite direction from the one we have been headed.  In contrast, there are also times when he confirms the path we are on and encourages us to keep traveling that "higher road".  Truth be told, we often need more warnings to turn around!  There is a process taught in the scriptures of leaving and cleaving.  We are to leave - go out of or away from something or someone.  The idea conveyed in leaving is the idea of never returning again.  There is a departure which is permanent.  We are then to cleave - to adhere closely, stick to something, cling to it as though your very life depended on it.  As equally as we were to move away from (in the completely opposite direction) something or someone who has caused us to travel a path which is not well-suited for a child of God, we are to cleave to the one clearly laid out by God.

The problem comes in our leaving.  It is like we treat our leaving as a little "vacation" from the issue.  Our leaving is not without its returning - kind of like when we board a plane to travel for a little while, but then return home.  Why do we return home?  It is a comfortable place for us - a familiar routine, a place of rest and comfort.  Did you ever stop to consider the things you take comfort in?  It may be a physical location, a relationship, or even your favorite chair.  For some, your place of comfort may not seem very comfortable!  To you, it is your routine.  Do you know the definition of routine?  It includes thoughts such as typical everyday activities; unvarying and habitual practices; and unimaginative, rote behaviors or actions.

So, if God asks for us to leave some familiar, rote, habitual, unvarying behavior or action, maybe it is gonna be a little harder than we might imagine.  Why?  Simply because our "routine" is being replaced by the unknown.  This is inherent in the process of leaving and cleaving - we embrace the unknown, leaving behind the known.  God's words to Israel should ring loud and clear in our ears, "Don't look back!"  Not only does God tell them to get up and get moving - away from where they have been - but he tells them the hazard of looking back!  If you are familiar with Lot and his wife, you know when she looked back, she didn't make out too well!  Looking back suggests a continued tie with the past.  The process of leaving and cleaving involves a "cutting" of the tie - much like a baby's umbilical cord is cut at birth.  The baby no longer is free to just lull around in the womb any longer - it has to breathe, find the breast, and somehow learn to explore this bright new world it has entered.

God gives us many dawnings of a bright new world.  The way we choose to embrace each of them makes all the difference in how much the new world will affect us.  If we try to embrace it while still "tethered" to the old, we will probably not get very far down the road because whatever tethers us to the old keeps us from enjoying the new.  God tells Israel to "just leave" and then he adds, "...but leave clean".  Curious, huh?  He tells them to get their hearts in right order as they leave.  Not just to "clean up their act", but to draw near to him in the process of leaving - to purify their hearts in worship.  This might just have something to do with how it is we make a clean break with that which we are leaving and learn to cleave to that which is in our new path.  We sometimes don't take the time to get with God on the matter of what it is we are leaving and we sure don't get with him on the stuff it is we are trying to cleave to.  In the process of leaving him out of the "leaving/cleaving", we simply don't purify our hearts.  That which remains in our hearts, though it be a fragment of what was once there, has the potential to continue to tug on our hearts.

I found it interesting God would tell Israel they did not need to be in a hurry - no one was pursuing them as they went about their "leaving".  I think we suspect just the opposite to be true - we need to be in a hurry to leave and in a hurry to cleave.  I think God might just be asking us to take some time leaving because there is some "sorting out" of junk which makes sense with the move!  This goes along with the process of purifying ourselves - we are ridding ourselves of the stuff which only clutters up our lives and ensuring we are only taking the stuff which adds purpose to our lives as we set out to our new destination.

Last, but definitely not least, God reminds them they are both being led out of their past and into the place of newness AND they have a rear-guard to ensure their past remains in the past.  He has our back, so to speak, as we go through this process of leaving and cleaving.  He knows things from the past will pursue us - so he places himself in the position of keeping distance from them and us!  Now, that should she a little light on how it is we break free from the "routine" in our lives and pursue the unfamiliar, but promising place of all newness!  So, get up, get moving, and make a clean break of it.  Purify yourself in worship as you do.  Then, don't be surprised when you recognize the great help of your protector and guide as you traverse between the known and comfortable into the unknown and a little bit scary.  God is both your guide and your rear-guard.  He has your back!  So, don't look back.  He has that all under control!  Just sayin!