The Mind of Christ....

Today in my devotions I read the following:

Colossians 3:8-17
8But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. 12Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Over the last couple of days, I have allowed myself to get into a rather negative frame of mind. I mistakenly allowed myself to listen to some negative talk from some disgruntled parents who were complaining about some circumstances at the school. Then something happened that got Danielle somewhat upset and she was sharing her discouraging day. The next thing I knew, I was downright irritated....and frustrated...and very worked up. Lately I have found my fuse rather short. I have found myself in a state of irritation far too often. I in turn shared my frustration with a good friend who challenged me to think of what I was irritated about in light of what God would want me to be thinking about. She helped me to put a perspective on what I was thinking and feeling, and I was royally rebuked. I thought about it late into the night, asking God to forgive me for my weakness in this area.

Then, the very next morning, I found the passage above in my daily devotion. I thought a lot about what we are to put off and what we are to put on. Notice, God says to put off "all" of these. I got to thinking about those things and looked up some of the definitions in the dictionary. It was rather interesting.

Anger - Strong feeling of displeasure and usually antagonism

Wrath - Strong vengeful anger or indignation; retributory punishment for offense

Malice - Desire to cause pain, injury (emotional or physical) or distress to another(spite, grudge)Blasphemy - Act of claiming attributes of deity, irreverence towards something sacred

Filthy - Loathsome, moral corruption or defilement, something that corrupts or defiles

And now, how about some of the things we are to put on:

Meekness - Enduring injury with patience and without resentment AKA mild.

Forebear - To do without, to hold oneself back from especially with an effort; to leave alone; to control oneself when provoked.

Longsuffering - Patiently enduring lasting offense or hardship

Humbleness - Not proud or haughty, not arrogant or assertive; reflecting, expressing or offered in a spirit of deference or submission

I have some putting off and putting on to do.

Repentance....

OK...everyone (including me) starts their blog with...I haven't blogged forever. So, there I have said it.

I have been thinking about Repentance today. Something came up at work today...I can't even remember what it was...just that it was unrelated to the following. When looking for that "other" verse (oh yeah....I just remembered....I was looking for the "whatsoever things are true...think on these things" verse) I came across this passage:

2 Corinthians 7:9 - 11
Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry; but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a Godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things, ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this manner.

Wow...am I truly repentant? I have no doubt about my salvation. I understood that there is a difference between "Godly sorrow" and "worldly sorrow". I understand that Godly sorrow involves repentance which is agreeing with God about your sinfulness and agreeing to turn from that sin. Worldly sorrow is more of a grief. Perhaps from hurting someone you love or even just from getting caught, but there is no heart change regarding your actions. You don't take the extra step of seeing what you did through God's eyes and turning from those actions. I understand this and I applied it to my life at the point of my salvation and I have stood on that as I "worked out" my salvation over the years.

But it just struck me, as I consider the strongholds I have in my life, those areas of weakness that seem to be ever present in my life, I'm not sure I have ever been truly repentant of my actions in those areas. I think I have readily admitted they were weaknesses that I have. I have responded out of conviction during sermons that I have heard but....they continue to be strongholds. As I read that passage, I think I have come to realize that in regards to these areas, I have had more of a worldly sorrow towards them. I regret the problems they have caused in my life. I regret the way my actions in these areas have negatively impacted those that I love or my ability to be all I could be for the Lord. But I am not sure I have ever called them out as the dirty, rotten sins that they are. I am not sure that I have felt true repentance or Godly sorrow for them. Perhaps that is why they continue to trail me through this life...that last bit of battered, broken baggage that I have fettered to myself, that I insist on dragging along behind me.

I think I need to quit waiting to "feel" repentant and to start acknowledging these "weaknesses" for what they are (SIN). I think I need to start looking at them through Gods eyes and find the Godly sorrow I should have so I can turn from these things....put them behind me.

P.S. I believe this is one of the primary reasons for a lot of "false" conversions. I think you can bring someone to a worldly sorrow...or even a fear of hell...and get them to pray a sinners prayer. But unless they understand and experience true Godly sorrow, or repentance, there will not be a true heart change and their hope will be in an empty prayer. I think this would be a great verse to share as part of the plan of salvation.