Ephesians 4:17-20

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But ye have not so learned Christ;"

Ephesians 4:17-20

I think sometimes we forget what it is to be a child of God.  We want things to be "normal" and we want to fit in with the rest of the world.  We want to win at the game of life... instead of the game of eternity. :)  It's true.  We are vain.  We think we are pretty dang cool... and we blind ourselves with our own ignorance, and our own lust and greed.  Those are the things that matter to us.  What people think of us, or what people will give us, or what people will do for us.  But this isn't at all what we learn from Christ.  He asks us to walk a very different path than the one that we are used to... and he teaches us what it is to be a child of God.  That we look to God instead of the world.  That we serve others instead of expecting them to serve us.  That we put fame and money and lust in their proper subordinate places.  That we open our eyes and learn to feel and see all over again from God... to come out of the ignorance of spiritual blindness and emotional non-engagement.

God isn't a part-time job.  I realize that it would be a lot easier if he were.  We could pray, catch a few scriptures, attend a few meetings, and then go back to life.  But God *is* life.  It's full time with no weekends off.  24/7.  And you know what?  That's okay.  God's yoke is easy and his burden is light, right? :)  ... I think that what we find difficult and almost overwhelming at times is not what God asks, but it is trying to cling to all the stuff we left behind.  In our ignorance, we still think that we can drag our greed and lust and vanity (and all the rest) along with us.  Our pain doesn't come from serving God, learning from him, feeling his presence in our lives always... it comes from trying to do both.  Trying to be two people.  The one that looks to God, and the one that wants to grab all the toys and never to share.  And that is what this verse is about.  Counseling us not to walk as other people walk... to let that other life, that other self go.  After we've been born again, after we've changed our hearts... we don't need to try to go back for our old rotting other zombie self and get it back.  We have better already. :)  Today, let's let go of our inner zombies, okay?  Let's walk in the newness of who we become through God.