What does it mean for a Christian to live appropriately to their Christian calling?

The Apostle Paul instructs Christians in his letter to the Ephesians that one key aspect of living consistent to their Christian identity means doing everything possible to maintain peace and unity with one another (Ephesians 4:2-3) because there is "one body and one spirit" (Ephesians 4:4-5), and more importantly, one God (Ephesians 4:6).

And that one God, Paul wrote, gave us a gift: Christ (Ephesians 4:7).

To walk the path of life means living into the fullness of your Christian identity.

Christ, Paul went on to say, equips Christians to help build up one another into Christian maturity (Ephesians 4:12-14) so that Christians can become like Christ (Ephesians 4:15-16).

But what does it mean — practically speaking — to live out this Christian calling, an "in-Christ" identity?

Paul goes on to write in Ephesians 4:17-24:

Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.

But that is not how you came to know Christ,assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.

The imperative is clear: Christians, through acceptance into the family of God, can no longer live as if they are outside the family of God — or, in Paul's words, like the "gentiles."

Paul described such people as having hardened and calloused hearts, those type of people who walk the path that leads to death.

To walk the path of death means living like you did before you came to know Christ, before your eyes and ears were opened, before you came to knowledge of the "truth that is in Jesus," before you were made new through the spirit of God. That's your old self, which has died.

But Christians do not walk down thatpath. No, they walk the path of life.

To walk the path of life means living into the fullness of your Christian identity. It means, Paul wrote, that you live according to the way of Christ. Your new self has been created "according to God's likeness in righteousness and purity of truth," Paul declared.

That's good news! But how do we do that?

Paul said that an ingredient critical to putting off the "old self" and living into the "new self" is the renewal of the spirit of your mind and thoughts. What does this mean?

Consider some other Pauline verses:

Examine yourself today: What do you need to do to renew your mind in order to align yourself with your "new self" and your Christian calling?

Happy Lord's Day!