Dealing With Sin
The changes we long for in our lives start with how we think. The Bible tells us that we are to renew our minds with the Scriptures.
As believers, we win or lose battles with sin based on how much we are renewing our minds with the truth (Col. 3:1–5).
Before our salvation, we thought like the world and lived according to our flesh and its desires. All of this flowed from our sinful minds (Eph. 2:3).
But now we are saints with the power to change how we think. This power is not in ourselves, but in Christ in us. Being filled with the words of Christ transforms our thinking for the glory of God (Col. 3:16).
The pathway to transformation in our minds begins with God’s Word being planted deep within us. Consider these verses and their emphasis:
“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).
“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:2–3).
The exhortation in each of these passages is to destroy, renew, or set our minds on what is true. The mind is the seedbed of our spiritual growth.
When I was a young boy, I vividly remember my grandfather, every spring when the weather warmed, tilling the ground for his summer garden. This was his pride and joy—growing a garden that produced healthy vegetables. It all started with the right kind of soil and the right seeds.
Similarly, if we want to see healthy, Christlike actions in our lives, we must prepare the soil of our minds and plant the right seeds of truth.
Three Steps When Your Thoughts Go South
1. Stop Thinking in the Wrong Direction
As we live our daily lives and face negative thoughts, desires, or responses, we need to pause—halt—and ask ourselves an important question. What circumstances, conversations, or temptations have led to this pattern of thinking?
Stopping to identify the trigger helps us see where our thinking started to go in the wrong direction.
2. Balance our Response with the Truth
Ran than respond with raw emotions, we need to focus on our response to our circumstances, conversations, and temptations with biblical truth.
In this process, we must ask ourselves, “How did I respond? Did I respond with biblical truth or with my emotions?"
Our response reveals the truth about what we truly believe about God, ourselves, others, desires, lusts, hopes, and dreams.
3. Renew our Minds with the Truth
Finally, we must replace our sinful thoughts with Scriptural truth.
The best way to do this is by asking key questions such as:
Is it factual? (Phil. 4:8–9)
Is it good? (1 Cor. 13:5–7)
Is God in this thought? (1 Cor. 10:31).
Replacement is essential if we are to think in line with God’s truth and move toward actions that are in God’s will.
As God's Word takes root and grows in our hearts, our thoughts—and then our desires, words, and actions—are increasingly shaped by Christ, for the glory of God.
The more faithfully we follow this pattern, the greater our victory will be in our campaign against sin.
Striving with you,
Pastor Jason
As believers, we win or lose battles with sin based on how much we are renewing our minds with the truth (Col. 3:1–5).
Before our salvation, we thought like the world and lived according to our flesh and its desires. All of this flowed from our sinful minds (Eph. 2:3).
But now we are saints with the power to change how we think. This power is not in ourselves, but in Christ in us. Being filled with the words of Christ transforms our thinking for the glory of God (Col. 3:16).
The pathway to transformation in our minds begins with God’s Word being planted deep within us. Consider these verses and their emphasis:
“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).
“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:2–3).
The exhortation in each of these passages is to destroy, renew, or set our minds on what is true. The mind is the seedbed of our spiritual growth.
When I was a young boy, I vividly remember my grandfather, every spring when the weather warmed, tilling the ground for his summer garden. This was his pride and joy—growing a garden that produced healthy vegetables. It all started with the right kind of soil and the right seeds.
Similarly, if we want to see healthy, Christlike actions in our lives, we must prepare the soil of our minds and plant the right seeds of truth.
Three Steps When Your Thoughts Go South
1. Stop Thinking in the Wrong Direction
As we live our daily lives and face negative thoughts, desires, or responses, we need to pause—halt—and ask ourselves an important question. What circumstances, conversations, or temptations have led to this pattern of thinking?
Stopping to identify the trigger helps us see where our thinking started to go in the wrong direction.
2. Balance our Response with the Truth
Ran than respond with raw emotions, we need to focus on our response to our circumstances, conversations, and temptations with biblical truth.
In this process, we must ask ourselves, “How did I respond? Did I respond with biblical truth or with my emotions?"
Our response reveals the truth about what we truly believe about God, ourselves, others, desires, lusts, hopes, and dreams.
3. Renew our Minds with the Truth
Finally, we must replace our sinful thoughts with Scriptural truth.
The best way to do this is by asking key questions such as:
Is it factual? (Phil. 4:8–9)
Is it good? (1 Cor. 13:5–7)
Is God in this thought? (1 Cor. 10:31).
Replacement is essential if we are to think in line with God’s truth and move toward actions that are in God’s will.
As God's Word takes root and grows in our hearts, our thoughts—and then our desires, words, and actions—are increasingly shaped by Christ, for the glory of God.
The more faithfully we follow this pattern, the greater our victory will be in our campaign against sin.
Striving with you,
Pastor Jason
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