Once we become Christians we are expected to ‘put off the old self, which belongs to our former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit.’ It makes us diluted if we try to combine the two.

Our struggles with good Christian morals stem from our upbringing; in our various homes and communities we were raised, and those we associated with, influenced our actions. Naturally, children act what they see. If we see our mother telling us to tell a visitor she is not there when she is there, we do same. What we hear or read about needs a little bit of conscious effort to act it.

Growing up in our various homes and communities, we often saw people play with lies, insults, deceptions, swearing, curses, gossip, betrayal, etc, and we also do it because we think it is normal. It has become part of us. We swear, we curse, we lie, even when we know what we are saying is not true. James 5:12 says ” do not swear -not by heaven or by earth or by anything else, otherwise you will be condemned.”

In some areas they call a thief smart. A disrespectful person is called “a no nonsense person and we laugh over it.” We do so to bring damnation upon ourselves. Isaiah 5:20 ” woe to them that call evil good and good evil. We have not repented as Christians. It has become something generational. It has become inherent in us which is affecting our Christian lives. II Timothy 2:15 says “do your best to show yourself approved to God.”
We are so used to small lies and deceptions so much that we don’t feel anything when we do that. Yet the bible condemns it.

We insult others just for the fun of it.
The bible says whoever says “you fool” shall be in danger of hell’s fire (Matt. 5:22), yet we cannot stop. We see some of the attitudes on social media everyday. The least disagreement attracts insults. Some of us cannot share our opinions on issues without insults, if they don’t agree with others. It is what they saw growing up.
But the punishment the bible says we will get if we do them will happen to us if we don’t stop it. It doesn’t matter the circumstance under which it was said.

Christianity is not just about accepting Christ and going to church. Our actions should tell that really, we have changed. If we were fond of insulting others, we should be able to control ourselves now that we have accepted Christ as our Lord and personal savior. For the bible says we should make sure blessings should come out of our mouth and not curses.

Truthfulness has become a challenge for us because of these vices. Eph. 4:25 says “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.” May God help us overcome them and take up the new self so we can be fit to be called born again Christians.
The devil uses our ignorance and weaknesses to distance us from God.