When the latest operating system upgrade for my computer was released a couple of months ago, I was one of those who were fortunate to qualify for a free upgrade. But then, I began to experience unfavorable glitches in my system. The most irritating was the way my computer would intermittently lag or freeze for a few seconds. This would happen whether I was watching a video, or surfing the internet, or simply typing out something with MS Word. I started blaming the new system, concluding that it was faulty. I wanted to revert to the old system.
Then, a wise techie suggested that perhaps the problem was not the new system, but how I had tried to keep my old settings. You see, I had “migrated” everything from an old computer to my current computer—not just document, photo, and video files, but also system settings. And the techie suspected that the old system settings were getting in the way of the new system settings. He suggested a “clean install.” The first step was to make a backup of everything in my computer hard drive. Then I was to erase everything in the hard drive and reformat it so that it would be completely clear of the old system. Then, install the new system. Once the new system was installed, I would copy from my backup only documents, photos, videos, and not any of the applications/software or system settings. Finally, I had to do new installations with new settings of all the applications/software that I had been using and still needed.
I did as instructed. It took some time (and courage!) to do it. But now my computer is functioning as it should. The clean install worked!
I am reminded of what Scripture declares: “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5.17 NIV) What this means is that “you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3.9–10 NIV). There can be no mixing of the old and the new. In Jesus’ words: “Nobody puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too. No! New wine into fresh skins!’” (Mark 2.22 NJB)
When we are called “into Christ,” it means that our lives must undergo a thorough “clean install.” We must learn to let go of the “old” and let Christ work in the “new” into our lives. If we insist on holding on to the “old self with its practices” we end up with a malfunctioning Christianity that does not do justice to the gospel and does not honor Christ. Let Christ do a clean install in your life!
—Keith Jainga