Skip to main content
Instead, renew the thinking in your mind by the Spirit and clothe yourself with the new person created according to God's image in justice and true holiness.  
Ephesians 4:23-24 CEB
Our thinking needs help. 
Paul doesn't suggest more learning, more logic, but a renewing of our thinking by the Spirit!
How do we do that?
Practice asking God to challenge our thoughts, to be more aware of them, where they come from, are they helpful, do they line up with who Jesus is, and who he might have us be. 
There was a movement 'back in the day' based around WWJD? - What Would Jesus Do?
A question like that opens us up to allow the Spirit to shift, shape, renew our thinking. 
Find the practices that help you. 
Pray. 
Ask Him.
Ask the Spirit to change those thoughts. 
Replace. Replace those unhelpful, untrue thoughts with Truth. What does God say about me and to me? Let His Word be our guides as we step into 2024, and jettison the unhelpful and untrue. 
And Paul tells us to put on the new. 
Just like clothing we need to put on each day, daily we put on the person God meant us to be, the Image Bearer of His, and live out this calling, this calling to justice and holiness, a personal and communal, community of putting things right, of renewing out in the world, in the places we live, work, re-create, and worship. 
Practice.
Pray.
Replace.
Put on.
Live out.
Start 2024 knowing that you are Beloved, and allow that truth to renew your thoughts.
Clothe yourself with that Belovedness today. 
#iamBeloved

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,  for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. Colossians 1:15-16 NLT OK so this is an English translation of a letter Paul wrote to a church 2,000 years ago, but does it feel like Paul is wrestling with words and ideas to try and capture all of who Jesus is, of who God is, of how does it work that the walking around Jesus was also there before the beginning of the beginning of everything we can see and touch and know. Not only that but Jesus was somehow the agent of everything that has been made in the physical, social, and spiritual.  Jesus is at the centre of it all.  Walking around Jesus. Cooking fish for breakfast Jesus. Heart aching as he ...
Sunday Psalms: What the LORD says to my master:  "Sit right beside me  until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet!" Psalms 110:1 CEB This is a song of David's and it seems quite strange. It's full of difficult to understand images and  starts with God, Yahweh, talking to David's master - if David was the king here there was no one above him, so seems a bit odd. Maybe David is referring to some inner voice, his desires, the things that drive him? For all the stangeness of this psalm to my ears, it does seem to be about justice.  Yahweh is saying wait with me and I will sort it. The justice you haven't gotten, it will happen, it might not be what you expect or when you want it, but sit with me, stay close, and justice will prevail. Will we trust our God with that? #psalms #psalm110 #justice #faith #stayclosetoourGod
Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. But - When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us,  not because of the righteous things we had done,  but because of his mercy.  Titus 3:3-5a NLT Envy. The word here is "phthonos", to be glad at someone else's misfortune, it means a heart in decay. Hatred. The word here is "miseo" which means to "love less".  Desires driving our choices, misleading us. This is what Paul is telling Titus to remind the Christians in Crete that they have been saved from. It's not about "hell" or some future thing, but saved from the things in us that lead to destruction and decay. That left to ourselves will lead to slavery. Saved from the things that damage us in the here and now.  But God. But God loves us. And stepped in and made a way, because He loves us.  Maybe we ne...