Snapshots
Biblical Truth
OF
Renewed Mind And Spirit
BIBLE REFERENCE:
Matthew 5:48 (NIV) “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Galatians 5:22-24 (NIV) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”
Philippians 4:8, 9 (NIV) “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
Colossians 3:22-24 (NIV) “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.”
James 1:2-5 (NIV) “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
1 Peter 1:6, 7 (NIV) “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Crist is revealed.”
Of course, this inner transformation does not occur instantaneously. It requires time in God’s word to learn his ways; it requires turning my life over to God’s control and allowing him to renew and reshape my thinking. It will also involve many trials and testing to strip away the “barnacles of life”, such as:
• Pride
• Arrogance
• Selfishness
• Anger
• Fear and Worry
• Doubt and Unbelief
• Self Sufficiency
• Sin
As a Christian, I am a representative of Jesus Christ and my life should reflect the love of Christ to others. I should be a living testimony of God’s goodness and mercy. How are others going to be attracted to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ if all they see in me are the same old ideas and attitudes of the world?
We Christians are all a work in progress. We all have areas of our lives that need cleaning up. To ignore these areas is just being sloppy; and, there is no virtue or praise in being sloppy in our faith walk.
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A PRAYER:
“God, help me to be a person of excellence, one that you are proud of. Help me to do this in all areas of my life; the way I talk, the way I act, the way I think, even my life style, ambitions and goals - out of respect for you. Help me to clean up my act and grow up in my faith.”
SNAPSHOT:
APPLICATION:
As a Christian, my thoughts, actions and words should be different than the unbelieving world. If I have truly given my life to the Lord and have invited God’s Holy Spirit to dwell within me then my life should show it. There should be something positive and refreshingly different about my life.
