Ephesians 4:20-24 But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Does the word lust irritate you? Are you annoyed at being labeled lustful? It is the most easily identified attribute of a former life before Christ but it is unfair to label everyone as lustful. Some of us might not have lived a life full of sexual exploits. That is after all what you think of when you think lust, right? For this reason I would like to edit verse 22 “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;”

Truth is the goal we seek, truth in Christ. The object activity is a renewed mind for the new man. In the middle of this is an effort which connects those two things. Clarity would help us if we can remove any insult or stigma associated with the effort.

I would begin with put off and redefine that as forget. Forget what? Former conversations. Who did you have these conversations with? The hint is in the word deceitful which means a lie. Who is the father of lies? Satan of course, but I don’t remember having any conversations with Satan. Do you?

This is where I find it important to replace lust with another word which is softer and covers a wider range of issues. Appetites. I can tie this thought back into Ephesians 4:24 (our ultimate goal) with this scripture.

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

To be continued.