“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
Yesterday I wrote about what we need to get rid of as Christians and today I want to write about what we should replace it with. I find it a disservice to someone to simply tell them what they need to get rid of or what they cannot do but not tell them what they could replace it with or what they can do instead.
Yesterday I wrote that we should do our best to change our attitudes, thoughts and actions from negative destructive ones such as bitterness, anger and malice. Today the verse we are looking at explains some of the ways we can think and act that are more in line with how Jesus approached situations.
Paul is explaining to the Christians at Ephesus that they should be kind to each other, which is being willing to have the hard conversations with each other but to do it in love in addition to being considerate and generous. Paul writes that being compassionate with each other is another way to change the thoughts they have about each other. Remember that they were a very diverse group of individuals. The third way that Paul talks about is to forgive each other, just like they were forgiven by Christ.
I don’t believe that being kind, compassionate or forgiving would have been a difficult mindset to adopt but they were facing attacks by the devil daily. They were a new church who had given up following the old Jewish laws and were trying to follow the teaching of Jesus and how He lived instead. The devil was trying his hardest to stop this group of “Christ followers” as quickly as possible.
As I wrote yesterday, when we accept Jesus and are saved, we are to begin changing our attitudes, values, thoughts and actions; however, that is when the devil begins to work the hardest against us trying to make sure that we don’t change any of those things. He wants to keep us exactly how we were before we were saved, thinking like the world thinks. So as a new Christian or a Christian who has decided to change how they think and act to be more in line with Christ, this can be one of the hardest parts of your life to change.
Changing from doing whatever you want on Sunday mornings to going to church is not very hard, giving an offering that you normally don’t give isn’t that difficult either, but changing how you think, what you value as important and how you act in situations and react to situations can be difficult. You are changing how you have thought about things your whole life.
The good news is that you are not alone in this transformation. We have Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit to help us, we simply need to ask. We need to be willing to work on those areas and open to being led by God to think differently and act differently. It will be hard at times to change our immediate reaction or thought but we can do it with the help of God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Are you willing to give up the ways that you have thought and acted that are in line with the way the world thinks and acts and begin to think and act more like Jesus wants you to? You can do it and you are not alone in this change. I would suggest that you pray about it, that you find other Christians that you can surround yourself with so that you have additional encouragement and find a church that teaches Jesus so that you can be filled with spiritual food from the Bible.
Changing is hard but nothing is too hard for God.