We have lost a man. I mean we have lost enough human flesh to make an entire man. Critter and I have been on a weight loss binge since the end of the summer, and together we have lost over 150 pounds. I won’t say who lost the most. Suffice it to say that the one who had the most to lose lost the most. My father weighs 155. We have lost a man.

For both of us, the loss of weight has involved some basic changes in lifestyle. We eat less. Now basic changes may seem like little and unimportant ones, but the meaning of the term "basic" indicates otherwise. Sometimes it is the element in our lifestyle that is easiest to take for granted, the one that we don’t think about that requires the most effort and has the most profound result.

The same thing is true in the spiritual realm. The big changes, the ones that are most visible, are often superficial and short-lived. It is those basic changes, a tweaking of the character, if you will, that make the biggest difference in our lives. Repentance, after all, is a change of heart that results in changed behavior.

If we are going to get to heaven, there is a man that we must indeed lose. Paul said, "Lie not one to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings" (Col. 3:9). Of course, Paul is talking about the old lifestyle that arises from the old character and passions.

Before we became Christians, we were dead through our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). Paul and Peter both have a lot to say about our past lives is sin. Peter writes, "For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries" (1 Peter 4:3). Paul says, "Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor.6:9-11).

There are so many today who live in frustration with not being able to throw off the deeds of sin. The problem is that they are working on the wrong thing. They are working on a symptom that is the result of an element of their character. It’s kind of like the person who is overweight. What they need to work on first is not what they eat or even how much. They need first to rethink their attitude toward food. It is the old "Do we eat to live, or do we live to eat thing."

The key to overcoming sin is rethinking life. Why are we here, what is important to us, where are our goals. Paul gives the key in these few words: "Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth" (Col. 3:2). Heavenly goals must be our focus, our preoccupation. There must be a desire to get there accompanied by a willingness to put away anything that would hinder us. That setting of the mind will affect our attitude about everything. That which hinders, we will abhor (Rom. 12:9 – "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.") and lay aside (Heb. 12:1 – "Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."). But without that change of focus, that change of attitude, a change of ways will be impossible.