There’s an old saying, “If nothing changes, nothing changes.” As believers in Christ Jesus, we are called to change. Join me this week and consider some aspects of change in our lives as we walk with the Lord. Is there anything that you need changed?

Stinkin’ Thinkin’!

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2, NLT

“If only I could stop doing such and such! I really must stay away from that, or them, or whatever the temptation is. After all, shouldn’t I try really hard to behave differently from the world now that I’m a Christian?” Have you ever had ideas like these rolling around in your brain unit?

Read today’s Dose verse. It tells us to allow God to change our thinking, so that how He wants us to behave will be clear. Our behavior and habits will change when our thought patterns change. I haven’t read anywhere in the Bible that if we try really hard, we can, by our own willpower, stop copying worldly habits and behaviors. This is just stinkin’ thinkin’. But if you’re like me, you tend to hold onto that ol’ stinkin’ thinkin’ way past any point of usefulness it may have ever held for you.

Stinkin’ thinkin’ says, “I believe God saved me, but now I need to do my part and change all of my behavior.” But what do you do when that vulgar language you still use (despite your best efforts to cease) starts to sound really bad in your own ears? How about that awkward and uncomfortable feeling you get now when you participate in gossip, like you’ve done many times before, especially if you’ve at any point informed your fellow gabby-gossips of your conversion to Christianity?

Could it be that the awkwardness of these situations are all indicators that the Holy Spirit is alive and working in your heart, prompting you to change how you think? We behaved in certain ways because on some level, we could live with that behavior without feeling increasingly uncomfortable. When we follow the practices and behaviors of this world, we plunge right into selfish patterns and damaging reliance on unhealthy people and things.

As a believer, we’re now being convicted that continuing in our ungodly thoughts, habits, and behaviors is not honoring to God, our testimony, or our new lives.

God desires to change us from inside outward. As we follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our lives, He works changes in us, which transforms us into new people, and we accordingly demonstrate outward changes in what we say and do.

Be encouraged today in knowing that God will help us change our ungodly behaviors as we allow Him to change how we think.

Precious one, don’t you want to be changed from stinkin’ thinkin’?

By grace through faith,

Rita