Be renewed ...

Thursday, Feb 13, 2014. Christian faith means that things cannot remain as they are. Jesus speaks of renewal, which is as deep and wide as if we would be born again. He speaks about new life, which is generated by faith.

Turn …

Jesus as well as the apostles have talked a lot about the life changing experience which faith is. It is not a one-time experience, but needs change day by day. Let us listen a little bit to what is written in the letter to the Ephesians:

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self,6 which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4)

Tenderhearted …

Let us be straight: we need people who take real responsibility. We do need people who have enough drive and clarity to make things happen. It cannot always go without conflict. So how do kindness and conflict go together? Is it possible to be in strong conflicts and at the same time stay full of justice and kindness? It must be and it is, yes!

But I have to admit that I do not have all the solutions. It is the Lord who can make things happen. We cannot do it! In our youth group we have been looking through the history of Israel currently, reading all the events which led to the destruction of the Babylonean empire. It was not humans, who made it happen. The believers were in the conflicts, but God moved things forward in the end.

So we can say that we may be in conflicts, but may not have the power to resolve them. But we are not alone responsible for resolving all things - we are just kids of the most high. Our responsibility is to be transformed, to actively support the change in us, which the Holy Spirit wants to achieve. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts