Old Man

The phrase “old man” doesn’t set well with me. It’s seems [to me] disrespectful to hear a woman talk about her husband as her “old man.” I tease Mr. Bill about being old, and maybe that’s the cause of him living wide-open. What I see is when Mr. Bill isn’t wide-open, he’s suffering from it!

Paul wasn’t being disrespectful but rather candid when he wrote about the “old man.” Truth is, that old man is quite the troublemaker. Of course, non-believers don’t struggle with the old-man because the old-man rules – he has no competition. For believers, on the other hand, there’s an ongoing struggle between the old-man and the Holy Spirit Who now lives in us. Born-again by faith, we are new creatures in Christ but until we trade this earthly body for a heavenly one, the old-man will be causing trouble! Paul summed it up like this, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:19). Do you identify with that struggle? If so, be confident there’s a sin-root somewhere in your life! Mr. Bill has been spraying weeds with something [which claims to] destroy the roots. Oh, if it were that simple; how does a Christian kill sin within? We can’t BUT The Spirit can! “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” (Romans 8:12). Mortify – overwhelm, destroy, put to death – sin. Believers live in this truth -- “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). Mr. Bill’s problem is his spirit refuses to agree with his body – he behaves as though he is 20 but he is not. When God’s Spirit rules us, rather than the old-man, we can live life wide-open and free of that dizzying cycle of sin. In that case it’s okay to say, “so long, old-man!”