The Old You Must Go Away For You To Find Freedom

by Eric Elkin

“We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.”

— Romans 6:6

The strangest things become collectors' items. Reading today's scripture passage from Romans, I suddenly remembered my old confirmation book, Free To Be. The thought of it inspired an impulse search for the book online. Much to my surprise, it has become a collector's item. It will cost you $42 on Amazon to get a copy. The revised edition is $46, but you better act fast. There is only one copy remaining.

Suddenly I realized I was sitting on a gold mine. I have my original copy in the basement. And, my copy has all the answers in it. Although I have always been afraid to look at what I wrote in that book. As I like to joke, I was voted most likely to sacrifice to a pagan god by my pastor.

The reason I thought about this book was the phrase, "our old self." James Nestingen, the author of the curriculum, framed everything around the "two yours" On one hand, there was the "old you," which was selfish and wanted its own way. This old you didn't want a god or anyone else making decisions for them. On the other hand, there was the "new you." The new you believes it is forgiven of sin and lives freely in God.

The new you is willing to let old transgressions die. It looks to the future with hope and confidence. People who look to the future with hope do not forget the past. Instead, past events, good and bad, are the foundation in which hope is built.

“[God} takes you the way you are - with your strengths, gifts, talents, and abilities; but also with your bad habits, selfishness, pride, and whatever else you most want to hide.”

— Rev. James Nestingen, "Free To Be"

We are watching a nation make one more attempt to put its old self away. The problem is the old person does not want to go. It fights for its selfish ways. The old self does not like someone else making decisions for it. Most importantly, the old person defines itself by a false story it created about the past. It cannot see hope in the future.

When the Civil War ended, the entire nation wanted to forget it ever happened. The death toll and destruction was too catastrophic to remain focused on the cause. However, in wanting to forget, we never really set out intentionally to build a new future. Perhaps it would have been different had Lincoln lived, but we will never know. Yet, here we are, 155 years later, still trying to let our old self die.

Who am I to talk? As much as I was educated about the "two you's," the church that taught those lessons was not a good role model. It took Lutherans and Catholics 500 years to start the process of putting their old selves away. The old you dwelling within caused one church to refuse reformation and the other to abandon reconciliation. Their conflict led to wars and centuries of pain.

It took the church who taught me about the "two you's" 500 years to create peace with the Mennonites. In the old country, Lutherans used to drown Mennonites because they didn't baptize the right way. And, even though we have created a covenant of peace, Lutheran pastors still condemn their baptismal practice.

The old you is a difficult person to kill. It can take centuries for him/her to die. But this person must go away. All it is really interested in is robbing you of life. The funniest thing is, you don't need a gun to kill the old you. You just need to commit yourself to peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Could you do that if it meant freedom from hate?

Click to read Romans 6: 1-11