Is your attitude warped?

Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. (Ephesians 4:21-24 NLT)

Since - you used to live one way, but now you are called to live another. The precipitating factor to live differently? You know Jesus and have asked him to be your Lord and Savior. The result? You live differently - making different choices, casting off things within your 'former life' that did not bring honor to him, and focusing on those things that do. 

Instead - replace one thing with another. Jesus never asks us to lay aside or cast away anything in our lives that is 'worthwhile' or truly of 'value'. He may ask us to leave some activities because they are a 'time suck' for us, or they aren't doing much to improve our relationship with him. He won't ask us to 'give up' without asking us to embrace something else 'instead'.

Let the Spirit renew your thoughts AND attitudes. In case you have not noticed, wherever our thoughts go, there goes our attitude! The more we dwell in a 'bad place' in our thoughts, the quicker our attitude changes, and not so much for the good. Look again at our passage. We 'throw off' our old way of thinking, along with those negative or harmful attitudes, and we 'put on' the new way of thinking - that which is truly righteous and holy.

Like it or not, our thought life needs to be our focus. We cannot passively go through life, allowing all manner of thoughts to get trapped in our brains. We must control what enters, get rid of what truly doesn't edify, and focus on what does. In so doing, we are allowing our 'attitude' to be transformed. Our attitude is defined as our 'settle way of thinking'. That said, perhaps the problems we have with sin in our lives is really the result of having formed some ways of thinking that are not all that great!

We might not think our 'way of thinking' is all that wrong. Whenever Jesus reveals something that needs to be changed, don't argue with him about it - let it go! It is warping your attitude and making life more difficult and intense for you than it really should be. Just sayin!