That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Some Thoughts
Focus on new in the attitude of your mind. If you want to live a better life, if you want to live a more Christ-like life a more Godly life, a kinder life. You have to change the attitude of your mind gave me that blueprint and God reinforced that blueprint with Jesus Christ, about holding faith and holding faith for the good things to happen. I know so many people say that you know, Michael, they I hope faith for the good things to happen but all this bad stuff happens anyway. Holding faith in the good stuff means focusing on the good things that are going to happen. Stop waiting for that next “bad” thing to happen. Stop focusing on the negative stuff and start focusing on the stuff that God in Jesus Christ wants us to focus on. I tell to everyone that miracles happen every day. It’s just how you wish to frame it. How do you frame things so that you always see the miracle in everyday life? Maybe it doesn’t work 100% of the time but you can make it 80% of our waking moments. The first thing I learned was as soon as I stopped keeping score on good versus bad that I was no longer focused on the bad but focused on the good. When you stop keeping score you start focusing on what was good. Focusing on the results that you really want and you start paying attention to the stumbling blocks along the way. God puts those stumbling blocks here because he wants us to enjoy what we get. Someone once said that all things would be made possible through God and that we would never suffer through God and it’s kind of true. God wants us to work for what we have. We have to work towards something that means that the path that we have to take is going to have some stumbling blocks to it. Those stumbling blocks may bring discomfort, some instances of pain, some instances of grief, and some instances of things that we didn’t necessarily want to see. During those times, Faith truly means focusing on what the beautiful result is going to be.
