Do You Need a Change of Clothes? Embracing Your New Identity in Christ

Have you ever allowed someone complete access to your computer? Recently, I gave an IT technician remote access to my computer for updates. As he moved the cursor around my screen, I realized he had access to everything. This made me wonder: do we ever give God that same level of access to make changes in our lives?

The Apostle Paul challenges us to allow God to transform us completely—so that when He’s done, we don’t look the same, think the same, or act the same. We become new in Christ.

No Longer Walking Like the World

In Ephesians 4:17, Paul makes an emphatic statement: “So I say this and affirm in the Lord, you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their minds.” Paul is placing his hand on the Bible, so to speak, and testifying with divine authority that believers must live differently.

Interestingly, Paul was writing to a church primarily made up of Gentiles, yet telling them not to walk like Gentiles. This would be like telling Americans today not to walk like Americans. He’s using “Gentile” not just as an ethnic description but as a contrast between believer and unbeliever.

The key message? If you talk like a believer but live like an unbeliever, it will be difficult to convince anyone that Jesus has made a difference in your life. When Christ transforms you, your life should look different.

What Does Life Without Christ Look Like?

Paul describes three characteristics of life without Christ:

1. Darkened Understanding

Those without Christ are “darkened in their understanding” (v.18). Their mindset is dark—unable or unwilling to recognize spiritual truth. They need light to expose their darkness.

2. Distant from God

They are “excluded from the life of God” (v.18). Why? “Because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.” They don’t know the truth (ignorance) and their hearts are so hard they don’t want to know what they don’t know.

3. Unclean Lives

“They, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness” (v.19). Their hearts are callous—beyond feeling conviction. They voluntarily surrender themselves to indecent behavior and pursue sin with greediness, never getting enough of evil.

This is the trajectory of every person outside a relationship with God through Jesus Christ—darkened, distant, hard-hearted, unclean, and callous.

This Is Not How You Learned Christ

Thankfully, Paul doesn’t leave us there. He provides the solution in verses 20-21: “But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you heard of Him and have been taught in Him, just as the truth is in Jesus.”

If you’ve truly learned Christ—if you were listening and being discipled—you know there’s a difference between the way of Christ and the way of the world. Christ is both the instruction and the instructor. He is the truth and the one teaching the truth.

In a world searching for truth, Paul reminds us that truth is found in Jesus. Apart from Him, we don’t know the truth.

The New Man List: Three Characteristics of New Life in Christ

Paul gives us three essential characteristics of what it means to be new in Christ:

1. Take Off the Old Self

“That in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourself of the old self that is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit” (v.22).

Paul uses the language of changing clothes. There are some characteristics of your old lifestyle that don’t belong anymore. Just as you might unsubscribe from unwanted email lists, when you subscribe to a relationship with Jesus Christ, there are things from which you need to unsubscribe.

As D.L. Moody said, “If I’m walking with the world, I am not walking with God.” If you’re still wearing those old clothes, you haven’t really taken hold of the new man.

2. Renew Your Mind

“And that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (v.23).

This is the antidote to the futile, darkened understanding Paul described earlier. Sin begins in your mind, so transformation must begin there too. As Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

There’s a spiritual battle for your mind. If the enemy can control your mind, the enemy controls you. You need constant, regular vigilance to guard your thoughts.

3. Put On the New Self

“And to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (v.24).

The process isn’t complete until you put on the new clothes. It’s not enough to take off the old; you must put on the new. Jesus told a story in Luke 11 about a man who had a demon cast out, but because he didn’t fill his life with anything good, the demon returned with seven others worse than itself.

In Christ, there needs to be spiritual “reupholstering” in our lives—adding things that make us more like Jesus. Instead of darkness, there’s light. Instead of distance, there’s proximity. Instead of a hard heart, there’s a soft heart. Instead of an unclean heart, there’s a clean heart.

Life Application

Just as Lazarus was commanded to remove his grave clothes after being raised from the dead, we too must remove our old identity and put on our new one in Christ. If you’ve been resurrected with Christ but are still wearing your old dead clothes, you’re not living like Christ.

This week, take these steps to embrace your new identity:

• Identify one “old self” habit, thought pattern, or relationship that doesn’t belong in your new life in Christ. Make a concrete plan to remove it.
• Choose one way to renew your mind daily—perhaps through Scripture memorization, prayer, or limiting media that darkens your understanding.
• Intentionally “put on” one characteristic of Christ this week—maybe patience, kindness, or generosity—and practice it deliberately.

Ask yourself:

• What areas of my life have I not given God complete access to change?
• Am I still walking in some ways like I did before knowing Christ?
• What “grave clothes” am I still wearing that need to be removed?
• How can I actively renew my mind this week

Remember, you are a piece of God’s masterpiece. You’re not the whole picture, but you’re an essential part of what God is creating. When you use your gifts as designed, you help complete the beautiful image God is forming in His church.