Renewing Your Mind

The reverential fear of God is the awestruck reaction of wanting to be well pleasing to Him. It is that precious reverence that keeps us from doing harmful things. There was a time when we did not have a fear of the Lord and said, thought, and did all manner of foolish things. Things we wished to have forgotten, but that ole devil sure knows when to refresh your sin memory bank! Our salvation gave us the assurance that our sin nature was forgiven, yes, covered under the blood of the Jesus. We were so grateful, and we looked back over our years of sin and realized that God could have snatched us out of this world, were it not for His grace. Now, as we have so many years of salvation under our belts, walking by faith and not by sight, endeavoring to keep unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3), being doers of the Word and not just hearers (James 1:22),  at times we may revert to those foolish days of despising wisdom and instruction and abandoning our reverential fear of God (Proverbs 1:7). How does that happen? It is the analogy of the fox eating the grapes in the vineyard. A bite here and a bite there slowly erodes or decays the vineyard. Much like our pulling away from our relationship with Jesus. We indulge a little more here and a little more there and before we know it, we are corrupted by the world, and our spiritual vineyard is suspect. Or it happens by compartmentalizing our beliefs, my spiritual beliefs go here, but my worldly beliefs go there. It is the waring rival of the spirit vs the flesh.  We have managed to live a comfortable life of duplicity, thinking the two beliefs are independent of each other and at the same time thinking both are wholly acceptable to God, as our reasonable service.

By the mercies of God, renew your mind. Turn off what feeds you flesh and turn on what feeds your Spirit, the two are not the same. The Word of God awaits for you to renew your mind each day by seeking and setting your minds on those things which are above and not those things on earth (Colossians 3:1-2). Putting off that old man and putting on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to Jesus (Colossians 3:10). The Apostle Paul begs us to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  What is the good will of God? That you present your bodies a living sacrifice to God. What is the acceptable will of God? That you be holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. What is the perfect will of God?  That you do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. By the mercies of God, renew your mind.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we thank You for the challenges You give us in our walk with Jesus. Sometimes we forget and willfully slip into conformity to this world. Thank You for admonishing us through Your Word to renew our minds. You ask us to “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon (Isaiah 55:6-7).” Thank You Jesus and it is in Your name I pray, Amen!
By Sis. Paula Smith