Does Your Life Reflect Your Love for God?
This is our heart’s desire, isn’t it? That others would recognize the difference God has made in our lives and long to know Him too! I love how Matthew 5:16 puts it. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.”
What a privilege it is to represent Christ to the people around us! But I’ll be honest, living according to God’s laws rather than the world’s customs does not come naturally to me. I need God’s truth, found only in Scripture, to think biblically and the strength of the Holy Spirit to live biblically.
As much as I’d love to wave my magic wand so that I automatically think and act like Christ, I know it is not that simple. And I’ve learned to be thankful it is not.
Why? Because my weaknesses make me seek God and depend on Him for the transformation I need. God wants to be in a growing relationship with us so much that He chose for our transformation to be a process in which we continually seek Him. It is as we spend time seeking God, studying His Word and applying it to our lives, that He begins to transform our minds. All of which sets the stage for our holy makeover.
Here are some steps to help you along the way from my Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World DVD Study.
Word Time: Think & Live Biblically
How Do We Learn to Think Biblically?
The whole point of spending time in the Word is not to simply read it but to apply it to our lives so that we begin to think biblically. Because until we think biblically, we will be slow to live biblically.
When, through His Word, God reveals something in your life that is displeasing to Him, don’t ignore it; do something about it (James 1:5).
- Repent quickly
- Ask God to help you change
- Begin to make new patterns
Look for principles that you can use in your everyday life. Allow the Bible to be your authoritative rule of faith and conduct. Let it tell you:
~ how to act
~ how to speak
~ how to think
Wisdom or Folly, Transformed or Conformed?
The Bible is filled with hands-on practical advice and principles to help us learn to live as God wants us to live. But none of these rich truths will do us any good if we don’t take time to put them into practice.
In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus describes a “foolish man” as someone who hears His commands but doesn’t apply them. In contrast is the person who listens and obeys. Jesus calls that person “a wise man” who builds his house on a rock. No matter how strong the wind or fierce the storm, that person’s house will stand firm.
When we allow God’s Word to set our standards—precept upon precept, stone upon stone—we are building a spiritual house that will endure. We are being transformed rather than conformed to the ways of the world. Because when we learn to think biblically, we instinctively begin to live biblically.
But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
James 1:25 (NLT)
As we learn to think and live biblically, we experience one of the greatest joys: glorifying God to a watching world that they too may come to know and glorify Him! This is how our life will reflect our love for God!
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I’d love to hear from you…how has God’s Word changed the way you think and live?