Friday Reading: Ephesians 4:22-24
Key Verse: Ephesians 4:22
22 For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
22 For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
Devotion:
Do you think that you have changed at all after becoming a Christian? Are you still the same old you or do you feel like a different person? There are so many arguments about whether you should can or even if you can change after becoming a Christian; even in Paul’s letters he tries to encourage people to change from their old ways to the new ways. Our bibles try to encourage us to do that that is right; that often will mean stopping doing things that we used to do – not because other people tell you to do so, but because it is what you want to do to please God.
Do you think that you have changed at all after becoming a Christian? Are you still the same old you or do you feel like a different person? There are so many arguments about whether you should can or even if you can change after becoming a Christian; even in Paul’s letters he tries to encourage people to change from their old ways to the new ways. Our bibles try to encourage us to do that that is right; that often will mean stopping doing things that we used to do – not because other people tell you to do so, but because it is what you want to do to please God.
When we obey our parents, we know that it will please them. When they tell us things that we should not be doing and we change or ways to not do that, we are showing our parents that we are pleased to do what they think should be done so that we can show them that we love them. But when Christ said that we should love our neighbours as ourselves, He wanted us to start to think about what we do to others and in front of others. We don’t like it when people say or do things against us, so we should not do or say things against others… but it’s not as straight-forward as that… As we know, many of the things we do are based on our hearts as well as our minds. If we are not willing to change our hearts to love one another, then how will we ever change our physical to show that love?
If we are going to change, that change has to start in our hearts. That change has to start because we want it to. That change will happen, one way or the other. Why will it happen? Well, when we invite Christ back into our lives, we invite someone special in to live with us forever; by doing that, we now have someone loving, just and righteous with us always. If we continue to be our own old selves we may just find that we are troubling our guest every day through what we do in front of Him. We need to think about our closest neighbour and that is the Holy Spirit who is with us always…
Points to Ponder:
How often do you do things to please others?
How often do you do things that you think will upset God?
How often do you do things to please others?
How often do you do things that you think will upset God?