DAILY TEXT, From today Wednesday March 29, Put off the old personality and its practices (Col. 3:9).

DAILY TEXT, From Wednesday March 29, 2023,  Put away the old personality and its practices (Col. 3:9).

Let's Examine the Scriptures Every Day 2023

Wednesday March 29

Put away the old personality and its practices (Col. 3:9).

What was your life like before you studied the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses? Many of us don't even like to think about it. Maybe our attitude and way of being reflected what the world says about what is right and what is wrong. If that was our case, we had no hope and were "without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). But, as you studied the Bible, you learned that you have a heavenly Father who loves you very much. She realized that if she wanted to please Jehovah and be part of his family of servants, she would have to make major changes in her way of living and thinking. He would have to learn to respect God's high standards (Eph. 5:3-5). Since Jehovah is our Creator and our heavenly Father, he has the right to say how his family members should behave. And to those who want to be baptized he says: "Put off the old personality and its practices." w22.03 2 pars. 1-3.

WHAT IS “THE OLD PERSONALITY”?

How does someone who lets himself be dominated by the old personality act?

Whoever allows himself to be dominated by "the old personality" usually thinks and acts according to the flesh, that is, with his sinful nature. He may be easily angered and selfish, ungrateful and proud. Maybe he likes to be entertained by immoral or violent movies and pornography. Most likely, he has good qualities and perhaps even feels bad about what he says or does, but he lacks motivation to change his way of thinking and acting (Gal. 5: 19-21; 2 Tim. 3: 2 -5).

What balanced view should we have about what it means to throw off the old self? (Acts 3:19).

Because we are imperfect, none of us can completely eliminate bad thoughts and desires from our minds and hearts. Sometimes we will do or say something that we later regret (Jer. 17:9; Jas. 3:2). But, when we shed our old self, sinful attitudes and practices no longer dominate us or define us as people (Isa. 55:7; read Acts 3:19).

Why does Jehovah tell us to get rid of the bad thoughts and habits of the old personality?

Jehovah tells us to get rid of bad thoughts and habits because he loves us very much and wants us to do well in life (Is. 48:17, 18). He knows that if we get carried away by bad desires, we hurt ourselves and others. And it hurts him to see that happen.

According to Romans 12:1, 2, what decision must we make?

Family members and friends may sometimes make fun of us because we are trying to change our personality (1 Pet. 4:3, 4). They may say that we have the right to live the way we want and that no one should tell us what to do. But those who reject Jehovah's standards are not truly free. In reality, they allow Satan's world to shape them (see Romans 12:1, 2). We all have a choice to make: either we stay with the old personality, which is the product of sin and Satan's world, or we let Jehovah transform us so that we are the best version of ourselves that we can be for now (Is. 64: 8).

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