Change Starts With My Thoughts

In review of Ephesians 4:23 it says, “Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes”

Bottom Line:

Let the Spirit change the way you think.

What this means to me:

I am to let the Spirit within me renew my thoughts, attitudes and way of thinking.

Today's verse also comes from Ephesians 4 where Paul is speaking on living as children of light. He tells us to no longer live as ones who are hopelessly confused and full of darkness because of closed minds and hardened hearts against him. No longer living for lustful pleasures and practices. Christ showed us something different. So given this, Paul tells us to throw off our sinful nature and former ways of life that is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead let the Spirit renew our thoughts and attitudes. With this we are to put on our new nature, created to be like more like His son Jesus.

Change in my life will also require a new way of thinking. The way I think determines the way I feel, and the way I feel determines the way I act. If you want to change the way I act, I start by changing the way I think. In addition, if I want to change the way I feel, I must start with the way I think. Today’s verse reminds me to, “Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes” (Ephesians 4:23 NLT).

The battle for sin, the battle to deal with the defects in my life that I don’t like, starts in my mind. In order to change anything, behavior or emotions, I need to start with my thoughts and my attitude.

I’m learning that the renewal of my mind is really related to the word “repentance.” I know repentance is a dirty word for a lot of people. They think it means something bad, something they don’t really want to do, something painful. They think of a guy standing on a street corner with a sign that says, “Repent! The world’s about to end!”

However repentance is about more than changing my behavior. It is about changing my mind and learning to think differently. “Repent” simply means to make a mental U-turn. I turn from guilt to forgiveness, from frustration to freedom, from darkness to light, from hatred and bitterness to love.

It’s nice to know that God is not mad at me; rather he’s mad about me! While I’m deeply flawed, I’m also deeply loved.

So in summary, I start with my mind, and change the way I think about your things. Changing the way I think will then affect my emotions and behavior.