Are you being renewed in the spirit of your mind?

On Sunday, I quoted Tim Chester’s book You Can Change to illustrate the truth that we are called as Christians to ‘be who we are.’ God has already changed us radically at our conversions. We are already part of his new creation (2 Corinthians 5.17). Now we are called to live out that new identity by being constantly renewed in the spirit of our minds (Ephesians 4.23).

Here’s the way Chester illustrates that truth: ‘It was Sophie’s first day with her adoptive parents. She stalked nervously round her new home, fearing one of the beatings she was used to getting if something got broken. The toys in her room were untouched; she couldn’t quite believe they were hers. At dinner she secretly stuffed food into her pocket: you never knew where your next meal would come from when you were on the streets. That night she felt so alone in her big room. She would have cried if she hadn’t long since learnt to suppress her emotions. Now listen to her new mother one year on: ‘She crawled into bed with me last night, because she was having a bad dream. She curled up next to me, put her head on my chest, told me that she loved me, smiled, and went to sleep. I nearly cried with contentment.’ Sophie had a new identity on day one. She’d become a child in a new family. But initially she still lived like a child of the street. Her actions and attitudes were shaped by her old identity. Christians too have a new identity.’

Here’s the biblical exhortation: live today as the child of God you really are.

Posted by Stephen Witmer on Mar 16, 09:30 AM