READ: Ephesians 4.22-24 NLT
'Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.'
Do you like change? If I’m honest I have a love hate relationship with change and I suspect we’re all a bit like that. There is much about life that is comfortable and congenial and I would be happy if it stayed the way it is, but there are other things that I would be happy to change in an instant. In these verses Paul confronts us with the fact that, as Easter people, we need to get used to the fact that God is looking for revolutionary change in our lives. And he wants that because his desire is that our lives should be completely blessed, and not merely an improvement on what they used to be.
This process of change is so radical that it has to start in our thoughts. Only if God can renew our thinking will any real change take place in our actions. I know that this could sound ultimately scary. But when we realise that God is motivated by perfect love and that his intentions are that we should reach our true potential we can be completely confident as we place ourselves in his hands. God’s amazing intention is that our new nature should be just like his. So we need have no apprehensions about the changes that God wants to see in our lives. They will all be for the best in every possible way.
Since God is holy and perfectly loving it might seem sensible if he were to impose his changes on us. But God is always unwilling to do that. The decision always lies with us. And that’s why Paul uses the language of changing clothes. God looks to us to throw off the old suit of clothes. He wants us to make the deliberate decision that we want to change our way of life before he will give us a wonderful new suit of clothes to put on. In his love he lets us decide.




QUESTIONS: Are you willing to let God change your attitudes and thoughts?
PRAYER: Dear Lord, thank you that you only ever ask me to change because of your perfect love for me. Amen

Released on 15 Apr 2021