Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
Ephesians 4:23-24, NLT
The writer of Ephesians offers us a challenge and it’s one we can’t do alone. We are told we need the help of the Spirit to renew our thoughts and attitudes. It seems certain in an election year that many have tried to influence our thoughts and attitudes. Some are good thoughts. Some are not. Some are so confusing we wonder what to believe, what to think, or what happened to common sense. It can feel like chaos reigns.
You’ve been developing your view of the world since you were a kid. Some of your attitudes are the result of upbringing or culture. You witnessed the behaviors and ideas of the people around you and adapted them for yourself. As an adult, you’ve tried to create boundaries and moral standards that make sense to you. You’ve tried to be a good person and just get along with others. Eventually, you may have recognized God could play a role in the thoughts that fill your mind. At that point, you may have felt a need to change, to discover more of Him for yourself. So, you invited the Spirit of God to conform you, inform you, and help you become more holy. You wanted to be influenced by something more than human opinions, politics, theology, or philosophy. You wanted to know God was there and that He could overcome the chaos and fill your heart with joy.
Today, you can tell God your hopes to have a clean heart, a kinder heart, a more giving heart. In fact, you can tell God you want to be His light more than you want to fit into a world you don’t truly understand. You want that because God’s Spirit wants more for you than you could ever want for yourself. God works to change those attitudes that don’t serve you well. He helps you get beyond negative thinking and learned behaviors that don’t please Him.
Perhaps the best part is you feel safe, and you’re filled with heartwarming gratitude for all God does and has already done in your life. You allow the Spirit to motivate everything you think and do, and you trust you are walking more closely with the One who created you to be an amazing human being. You don’t have to settle for the opinions of others, because you are personally renewed by the Spirit of God.
Today, ask God to help you receive more of His Spirit. You will be blessed from the inside out. Your thoughts will be positive and joyful, and your attitudes will shine God’s light any place you go. Ask God to give you a heart like His. His Spirit goes before you.
May your blessings abound.