A number of times we have spoken about the importance of having a clear sky. Actually, to have a clear sky is simply to have a clear spirit. Spiritually speaking, our spirit is our sky. Therefore, when our spirit is clear, our sky is clear as well. However, if our spirit is cloudy, our sky also will be cloudy.
In 4:17-19 Paul says that those who walk in the vanity of the mind are darkened in their understanding and estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance which is in them. He points out that their hearts are hard, that they have ceased from feeling, and that they have given themselves over to lewdness. Therefore, to be in the vanity of the mind is to be in thick darkness. By contrast, the believers, who were once darkness, are “now light in the Lord” (5:8). Therefore, we should “walk as children of light.” In 5:14 Paul says, “Awake, sleeper, and arise from among the dead, and Christ shall shine on you.” Whenever we are in the spirit, we are in the light, under the Lord’s shining. As a result, we have a clear sky. The more clear our spirit is, the more clear our sky becomes.
If we exercise the mind instead of the spirit, the sky within us will be cloudy. The same is true if we are strong in our emotion or will instead of in our spirit. However, if we deny our natural mind, emotion, and will and take a definite stand with the Lord in our spirit, our sky will immediately and spontaneously become clear. When we hesitate in following the Lord, our sky is cloudy. But when we are definite and absolute in following Him, it is clear.
The reason we hesitate to follow the Lord is that we consider too much in the mind or care for our emotional concerns. Possibly you are afraid of offending someone. A brother may be concerned about his wife’s reaction to his decision to take the way of the church. Such considerations and concerns cloud our spirit. But if we set aside our considerations and concerns and make a firm decision to follow the Lord absolutely, our sky will be clear. There will be no clouds in our spirit. In our spirit we have no worries and no concerns, only the indwelling Holy Spirit.
If we walk according to the vanity of the mind, we shall be in darkness and estranged from the life of God. But if we turn to the spirit of the mind, Christ will shine upon us, and we shall have a clear sky. The reason certain ones who have been with us for a number of years have not improved much is that they live in the vanity of the mind. Rarely do they turn to the spirit of the mind. If such brothers and sisters turn from the vanity of the mind to the spirit of the mind, they will undergo a great change. Listening to messages is of little help unless we are in the spirit of the mind instead of in the vanity of the mind. We cannot receive spiritual help from messages if we exercise the mind rather than the spirit. We need to leap out of the vanity of the mind and walk according to the spirit of the mind.
As we walk according to the spirit of our mind, we are renewed. To be renewed is not to be adjusted, corrected, or improved in a mere outward way. It is to have a new element, the divine element, wrought into us. This means that in the church life we should not care for outward correction or adjustment; we should care for inward renewing.
If we would be renewed, we need to put off the old man and put on the new man. Notice that Paul does not say that we should try to improve the old man. Many saints do not have the intention of putting off the old man and of putting on the new man. Instead, their intention is to improve themselves, even to perfect themselves. They may try to adjust themselves in order to adapt to the church life. This is a mistake. In the genuine church life there is no adjustment or correction; there is simply the putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new man. Actually, this putting off and putting on is the renewing.
For something to be renewed means that the old element is replaced by a new element. Our spirit is a renewing spirit because it is indwelt by the living Christ as the renewing element. Because we have the element of newness in our spirit, we can be renewed in the spirit of the mind as the renewing spirit spreads into our mind. The more we turn to the spirit of the mind and walk in the spirit of the mind, the more our mind will be renewed. Then in a practical way the old element is replaced by the new element. In this way we put off the old man and put on the new man.