Colossians 3:10 - A Once-and-Future Glory

"...and having put on the new [man] the [one] being renewed unto full-knowledge according to [the] image of the [One] having created him..."

-The new man.  We have indeed taken off and put aside the ratty old man, enslaved as he was to sin, and have put on a new man, a new self.  The old archaic things passed away and new things have come (2Cor 5.17), new in the sense of being fresh (as opposed to being unused - cf Mt 9.17, where fresh “new” wine goes into unused “new” wineskins), a new superior quality of being.  The new man, this fresh new life we received and are receiving (increasingly so each day as we abide in Christ), is not just a freshening, a new coat of paint on an otherwise nasty tomb.  No, we’re talking about an ongoing renovation project from the foundation on up, a complete restoration to a once-and-future glory.  And this renewal is based on truth, unchanging truth, on the truth of Who God is and who He designed us to be - those who bear His image.  We are the ones through whom He wants to show off His breathtaking goodness, the reality of Who He is, what He is really like, to those standing outside looking in, to our neighbors and the nations.

-And so yes, in place of the lie we have truth.  In place of false gods we have the one true God.  We have new hearts and lives which are founded upon and being conformed to truth.  No wishy-washy relativism here.  No two feet firmly planted in mid-air, no life-house being built on shifting sand.  No, ours is a rock.  The rock of ages, eternal truth on which you can base your entire life - what you believe, what you value, what you pursue, every layer of your life springing forth from this fountainhead of wisdom and knowledge.  The starting point is the truth that He is God, this One Who created us, and there is no other.  In the beginning, God.  God created (Gen 1.1).  That’s where we start, that simple truth so much maligned and dismissed by moderns desperate to avoid any accountability to some greater being.  But all truth comes into question, does it not?  The modern way is truth-less, there is no truth, there are no absolutes (except of course for that one, which obviously makes the entire premise a self-defeating one).  But this Creator God Who cannot lie, Who speaks truth always and Who spoke all things into existence - He is still there, and He is not silent, and He is still speaking His life-transforming world-changing truth into hearts and lives today - creating and recreating breathtaking goodness by His mighty strength thru His Word, thru His Spirit, and thru His people.