“INSTEAD, LET THE SPIRIT RENEW YOUR THOUGHTS AND ATTITUDES.”
Ephesians 4: 22- 24
“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.
Repentance requires that we change our way of thinking and acting. ‘Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.’
Repentance is not aimed at making us more righteous before God – Jesus declared us to be righteous when he purchased us on the cross – so our repentance is meant to be a process of changing our thoughts and actions so that we can be more loving, more compassionate, more kind. More useful to God.
Ephesians 4: 31 – 32 says “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
Our actions do not make us more acceptable to God, vs 30 says
Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
This makes us more useful as messengers of God’s grace. Bitterness and other evil behaviour prevents us from loving others. We need to change our minds about the way we think about others, if we only hate their sinful actions, despise their sinful hearts, how will we love them to Jesus.
St Francis hated lepers, they were a symbol of wretchedness, but when he changed his mind and embraced the leper, it was because he loved God more than he feared leprosy, not because he had gained a sudden affinity for the condition! St Francis looked beyond the obvious and the physical and he saw what counted, the lonely soul within, the hurting human. He did not want to be a leper nor did he suddenly transform leprosy into and acceptable thing, (though with deepening understanding of the condition and medical advances, that did eventually happen).
St Francis chose to love the unloveable, what about you?
*Reflection*
What changes do you need to make in your life where loving God needs to be bigger than your prejudice, fear and dislike?
What attitudes do I need to change towards others, because I value their salvation, more than I dislike their sinful choices?
*Prayer* Lord God, open my eyes to see you, in the wounded, the broken, the hurting. And help me to love you there! Help me to consider others and their need of you, above my desire for gain for myself. Help me to forgive, and to love and to throw off my sinful nature. Amen.
Lord God as we lay our lives before you seeking your transformative love, renew our hearts for acts of service that we may be free of all that prevents us from serving you.
