Ooh! Aah!

            I have no shame! I’m in my 40s and I still love Christmas trees and all their shiny decorations. November 1st, I’m ready to put my tree up. After we decorate it, we like to stand back and admire it . “Oooh! Aaah!”

If you are like me, you have newer shimmering ornaments that go out front for everybody to see. And you have some old dull ones where their color has faded or the paint has chipped off. You are tempted to throw them away, but you are too attached to them, so they get hidden in the back of the tree.  That way nobody can see just how bad they really are.

 “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.”  Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV)

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are new creatures.  We are to shed the old self and take on the new one.  Unfortunately, a lot of times we try to hang on to the old habits.  We’re attached to them and don’t want to let them go, so we hide them from view.  Take a moment to step back and look at how your soul is decorated.  How many of those old habits that we’ll call drab ornaments are still hanging around?  Maybe it’s time to throw them out.  That way you have more room the glistening ones.  Oooh!  Aaah!

OOPS!

Oops!

I say “OOPS!” at least once every Christmas. Sometimes more. Each year I drop ornaments as we decorate the Christmas tree. They shatter upon impact with the hardwood floor. Know what’s the most aggravating about it? It’s never the old balls or the ones that have fallen off of my favorite decoration list. Nope. It’s the new shiny ornaments that I just had to have on my tree.

It’s a shame that bad habits can’t be disposed of easily as the broken ornaments. Just scoop up the pieces and throw them in the trash never to be seen again.

“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.” Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV)
When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are new creatures. We need to shed the old self and take on the new one. Unfortunately, a lot of times we try to hang on to the old habits. We’re attached to them and don’t want to let them go. In our eyes, they are still shiny and pretty, but in God’s eyes they are the old leftover decorations that need to go.

Step back and look at what you are decorating your soul with. Those old habits that we’ll call ugly ornaments need to be shattered and thrown in the trash, never to be seen again!