Ephesians 4:20–24 (ESV) —
20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
NOTE: One of the true secrets of the Christian life is the principle of "put off and put on." While it certainly is possible to stop bad habits or behavior in its tracks, it is not normal, at least in your own strength. First, anything we do in our own strength is often a failure in the long term. Second, while the Holy Spirit can give us the strength to stop a behavior, often we need to replace the behavior with a new behavior, preferably related. We need to change our mindset. We need spiritual power. I have found that an active life of memorizing scripture, even a verse every day, can sufficiently fill up my time as to prevent me from certain behaviors. The other advantage of scripture is that it is supernatural. You cannot fill your mind with scripture without it changing you.
PONDER:
- What is your plan to change sinful behaviors?
- What will you replace a sinful behavior with?
PRAYER: Father, it is simplistic to think that just memorizing a verse will stop a sin, but a lifetime of memorizing verses will change a person even beyond recognition. I pray that others could experience the life transforming effect of the word of God in their minds.
No comments:
Post a Comment