Ephesians 4:17-21 — whatchu you thinkin'?

READ THIS: Ephesians 4:17-21

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.

WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?

What we think about changes how we feel which then changes how we act. 

In other words: Thoughts --> Feelings --> Actions

If we only think about certain things over and over, we will start to have an emotional connection to them, and then we will act on it. It's kind of like when a group of people walks by and they're talking about this awesome ice cream place down the road. Then, for the rest of the day you keep thinking about ice cream, and by the end of the day you want some ice cream....so you eat some for dinner. 

When we struggle with how we act, when we keep doing something that we don't want to do (like gossiping or something sexual or stealing, etc), then we need to stop and trace back our thoughts. What were we thinking about that led eventually to that action? With the ice cream example, if you were trying to fast from ice cream, then the best way to not end up with your spoon in some rocky road is by not thinking about ice cream, and substituting thoughts about ice cream with thoughts about something else. Specifically, any thought that we have that leads to bad actions can be replaced by thoughts about Jesus! Thinking about Jesus tends to lead to actions we are unashamed of!

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. Think about the last time you did something you were ashamed of. Can you remember what your thought process was leading up to it?

2. What is one way you can replace/substitute your thoughts the next time you are thinking about something you maybe should not be?
 
TRY THIS:
 
Try to be extra aware of your thoughts either today or tomorrow. See if you have some consistent thoughts that pop up throughout the day!

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