Monday, June 29, 2009
WEAR NEW CLOTHES EVERYDAY
Ephesians 4:17-24
[A] – ACCEPT / RECEIVE GOD’S WORD: I will guide my heart and mind to meditate on today’s Word of God. But first, I will pray that today’s Word is able to change my life.
Ephesians 4:17-24>>
17So 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.
18They 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.
19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.
21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
23to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
[C] – CONTEMPLATE / MEDITATE ON: I will meditate on the verses above and answer the questions below honestly before the Lord.
What differentiates a person who does not know Christ with a person who decides to learn to get to know Him? [verse 17-22] What position are you currently in?
How can my carnal desires and/or fleshly desires deviate me from going down the right path? [meditate on verse 22]
[T] – TAKE ACTION / APPLY: Today I will guard my thinking from having dirty thoughts, doubts, evil thoughts, and/or any other worthless things.
[S] – SHARE / STRENGTHEN: I will testify to at least one person I meet with today.
LESSON:
Take a moment to think about your old lifestyle, or about our current lifestyle that we need to leave behind, so that we can be made new in Christ. Many times we feel hesitant/regretful to throw out our old lifestyle, old activities, old group of friends, even though we know that stands in the way of us seriously following Christ. The result of this is that our identity shows that we are Christian, but our lifestyle does not reflect what we believe.
Apostle Paul leads his people in Ephesus to work hard by fulfilling these steps. Firstly, we need to realize that living a life as one who does not know God lacks meaning. Our thinking, planning, and decision making are motivated by egoism and/or the world’s influence that has temporary qualities. Secondly, we need to realize that we will definitely have an experience with Christ, an amazing and life changing experience. As time goes by, we often forget and leave those experiences behind us, although those experiences are valuable and need to be maintained. We need to continuously chase after new experiences with Him.
The third phase is to wear our new clothes, which are our new habits and our new lifestyle that is according to the identity as children of light. Start by managing your anger, guarding your tongue, and being selective as to what activities you partake in and who you hang out with.  We need to guard our quality of life, so that it can be continually restored and that we don’t revert back to our old habits, which many times can be difficult, but if we are part of a good, genuine community, where God’s children are able to motivate us, it will be much easier for us to move forward.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Ephesians 4:17-24

[A] – ACCEPT / RECEIVE GOD’S WORD: I will guide my heart and mind to meditate on today’s Word of God. But first, I will pray that today’s Word is able to change my life.

Ephesians 4:17-24>>

17So 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.

18They 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.

19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.

21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;

23to be made new in the attitude of your minds;

24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

[C] – CONTEMPLATE / MEDITATE ON: I will meditate on the verses above and answer the questions below honestly before the Lord.

What differentiates a person who does not know Christ with a person who decides to learn to get to know Him? [verse 17-22] What position are you currently in?

How can my carnal desires and/or fleshly desires deviate me from going down the right path? [meditate on verse 22]

[T] – TAKE ACTION / APPLY: Today I will guard my thinking from having dirty thoughts, doubts, evil thoughts, and/or any other worthless things.

[S] – SHARE / STRENGTHEN: I will testify to at least one person I meet with today.

LESSON:

Take a moment to think about your old lifestyle, or about our current lifestyle that we need to leave behind, so that we can be made new in Christ. Many times we feel hesitant/regretful to throw out our old lifestyle, old activities, old group of friends, even though we know that stands in the way of us seriously following Christ. The result of this is that our identity shows that we are Christian, but our lifestyle does not reflect what we believe.

Apostle Paul leads his people in Ephesus to work hard by fulfilling these steps. Firstly, we need to realize that living a life as one who does not know God lacks meaning. Our thinking, planning, and decision making are motivated by egoism and/or the world’s influence that has temporary qualities. Secondly, we need to realize that we will definitely have an experience with Christ, an amazing and life changing experience. As time goes by, we often forget and leave those experiences behind us, although those experiences are valuable and need to be maintained. We need to continuously chase after new experiences with Him.

The third phase is to wear our new clothes, which are our new habits and our new lifestyle that is according to the identity as children of light. Start by managing your anger, guarding your tongue, and being selective as to what activities you partake in and who you hang out with.  We need to guard our quality of life, so that it can be continually restored and that we don’t revert back to our old habits, which many times can be difficult, but if we are part of a good, genuine community, where God’s children are able to motivate us, it will be much easier for us to move forward.