I was slow to love you, Lord,

your age-old beauty is still as new to me:

I was so slow to love you!

You were within me,

yet I stayed outside

seeking you there;

in my ugliness I grabbed at

the beautiful things of your creation.

Already you were with me,

but I was still far from you.

The things of this world kept me away:

I did not know then that if they had not existed through you

they would not have existed at all.

Then you called me

and your cry overcame my deafness;

you shone out

and your light overcame my blindness;

you surround me with your fragrance

and I breathed it in,

so that now I yearn for more of you;

I tasted you

and now I am hungry and thirsty for you;

you touched me,

and now I burn with longing for your peace.

St Augustine of Hippo, 354-430

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That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.