“ . . . put off . . . the old man . . .” (Ephesians 4:22, King James Version).

I had an interesting dream last night.  Well, it began as a dream, swiftly transitioned into a nightmare, and then became a dream again.  Now that I am more or less awake, I regard it as a cautionary tale.

In my dream, my wife and I were going somewhere with “an older couple” (which means older than us).  The older guy was driving.  I was riding shotgun.  Shortly after getting up to speed, we ran off the road.  I looked over at the driver, and the old man had fallen asleep.

We went down a fairly steep embankment, but the car didn’t roll or start fishtailing.  I felt panicky, but tried to keep my wits about me.  We were off the road, but in a flat place now.  I tried to wake up the driver, but he was sound asleep.  Finally, I grabbed the steering wheel, and applied the brake.  It took an unbearably long time, but eventually, I was able to stop the car.  The old man woke up, but I drove the rest of the way to our destination.

Then, I woke up from my dream.

In the passage from Ephesians that I quoted at the top of this post, Paul encourages the believers to whom he is writing to “put off the old man.”  Modern translations try to convey the thought, rather than translating literally.  I get that.  It is a good way to go about translation.  More modern folks are likely to read it and understand the gist of it. One modern translation, the New American Standard,  has “. . . lay aside the old self . . . ,” which is certainly a fine translation.

On the other hand, I am still rather fond of the King James translation.  The Greek word for “man” is “anthropon,” the general Greek word for human beings.  We get our modern word “anthropology” from the Greek word.

So, why do I take my dream/nightmare as a cautionary tale?  I didn’t have a fatal crash yesterday during my waking hours.  But I did run off the road, in terms of my life.  I didn’t kill anyone or do anything illegal or horribly immoral.  However, . . .

However, I didn’t accomplish a lot of things on my to-be-and-to-do list, and I played a lot of computer games.

And I mixed up a Pillsbury Plus cake mix, and ate it raw.  I thought that I intended to just eat a little of it.  And I did!  And then a little more.  And then a lot more.  And then, I said to myself, “The refrigerator is pretty full.  Why don’t I put this in a smaller container, so that it won’t take up quite so much space?”  I decided to do that, but I also decided to take a few more bites.  Then, I said to myself, “Hey, I’m almost done with this, so why don’t I really economize on refrigerator space (and dishes), and polish this off?”  So, that is what I did!

Did you know that cake batter expands in your stomach, just like it does in the oven?  It does!  I probably could have made room for the cake batter in the refrigerator.  I certainly made room for it in my stomach.

The point of this sad little tale is that, even though I had not done anything horrible, and even though I did get some worthwhile things done, I had put the old man—my old man—in the driver’s seat.  I had done so by practicing gluttony and laziness, which the Catholic Church recognizes as two of the mortal sins.  The old man, even when he is asleep, can do a great deal of damage.  However the good, but sobering, news is this: I never actually have to let the old man drive.

So, I woke up this morning after my nightmare determined to put off the old man, to not let him in the driver’s seat today.  I woke up determined to let the new man, the man I am in Christ, do the driving today.

In this same passage in Ephesians, Paul instructs his hearers about what they are to do, once they have “put off the old man” (4:23).  Paul writes, “Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.”  The Greek word for “renew” can also mean “to become young again.”  I think that I have discovered the fountain of youth!

So far today, so good for me!

How about you, gentle reader?  Who is in your driver’s seat right now: the old man or the Holy Spirit who makes you young again?