Wednesday, September 28, 2016

LESSON 25 - OUT




During September I'm blogging every day about one thing I've learned from 35 years of doing ministry.  Nothing about it is rocket science -- they're just tips that have served me well these past three decades.

Lesson #25 - What's in you comes out of you.

It's so easy to blame someone else for your responses.

'She makes me so mad.'

'I wouldn't have said that if he wouldn't have . . . '

'The only reason I act like that is because of what she does.'

No.

What just happened is that person revealed what was already in you.  They didn't put it there or drag it out -- it was already living under your skin.

I know that's hard to hear.

But you've never made a choice in your life that wasn't precisely what you wanted to do at that moment.  Every action - every reaction - every decision - you've ever made has been, at the moment you made it, exactly what you wanted to do.

It was the lesser of two evils.
It was the better of two goods.
It was the right choice for the occasion in your mind and heart.

Always.

You may have thought better of it five minutes after, but at that moment it was just what you wanted to do.

This is why Jesus said: 'Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.'  
It's why Paul repeated it:  'Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.'  Evidently your mind has a spirit - the way it does things - the things it thinks about - the ways it prefers.

It is that spirit that you and I act out of every day.  It isn't because someone made you respond the way you did.

It was already in you.

So be on guard.  Because what's in you comes out of you.

And be blessed.

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