It's Me Again God

91. New Nature

It's me again God,

There is so much security in being able to come to You each day, be in Your presence, sit at Your feet and just praise You! I lift up Your Name on high and thank You for every opportunity I have to put aside the cares of my day as I open the pages of Your Word and feed on Your truth. I am so thankful for this letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians and ask that You open my eyes and give me understanding:

"With the Lord's authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. But that isn't what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 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. So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. And "don't sin by letting anger control you." Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil."
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:17-27‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The first thing I noticed about these verses Lord was that Paul reminds us he is speaking with Your authority! You are speaking to us through him. It's not an easy topic to talk about but because it is from You, Paul gets straight to the point. As Christians, we can have the tendency to live like the rest of the world does. You clearly want us to be set apart from those who are 'hopelessly confused'. The description of their hardened hearts and lives that are so far from what You have planned and desired for them, is very sad to read!

The contrast is clear,  'They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity,' but as Christians, we have heard the truth and we don't live like we used to. Our lives clearly should not be characterised by sinful ways. It doesn't mean we will never sin again but we put aside or throw off our old sinful nature from our former way of life. There really should be a difference!

This would be very hard to do, if not for Your Holy Spirit living in us! Lord I pray that today Your Holy Spirit would renew my thoughts and attitudes so they are aligned with Yours. I have a new nature and I am created to be like You, not the world! Help me to remember that when I decided to give my life to You, things changed:

"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"  2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Help me to remember that I am a 'new person', created to be like You, 'righteous and holy'. Thank You that because of Jesus, this is possible!

Speaking the truth is clearly important, as is dealing with anger. When these things are not prioritised, they can destroy unity in churches and relationships. Please help us to pay attention to these warnings because clearly, allowing sin to rule in our lives, allows the enemy to attack us!

Thank You that Paul was obedient to tackle these difficult topics because of his love for You and Your body of believers, the church.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen.