“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
If you have been reading along with us through this series, you will know that Paul is all about the Gentiles being adopted by God along with the Jews. At first glance, he seems to be putting them down here, telling his readers not to “live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.” In this context, Paul is referring to Gentiles who remain far from God and are not following in Jesus’ ways.
All Christians, whether Jew or Gentile, live a life united with God. Those who live separated from God indulge themselves in a whole lot of ways. As we look around American society, we see this same type of cultural acceptance of greed, impurity, and indulgence. Those lifestyles are not the way of Christ.
Here’s your freedom for today: you get to be a brand new you. You don’t have to follow the paths you see around you. You don’t have to live fooled by desires that will end up coming back to hurt you. You can live a holy and righteous life, which is an imitation of God. There are two ways we can try to be like God: we can try to steal his rightful place as ruler over our lives, or we can imitate his characteristics of holiness and righteousness. Trying to be God will destroy us, but trying to be like God is the very thing we were made to do. When you imitate God, you’ll like what you see — the very best version of yourself.