Decide first for the year not what you will do but who you will be.
I was led to study 2 Corinthians 5 this morning. While reading and contemplating, this phrase popped, “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.”
Devoting ourselves to spiritual practices, or disciplines, is simply a means of working on the maturity of that creation.
I may be a new creation, but there seems to be continual work on becoming the sort of person that I should be. I don’t think Paul thought we stopped at becoming the new creation or he wouldn’t have written the last few chapters of Romans. It’s on how you live.
The Bible as a whole is not a text book of science, or of philosophy, or of theology, or of history. The Bible is a manual. It is our guide on how to live, how to relate to God, how to relate to others, how to become the sort of person pleasing to God.
We get off the track when we get into petty arguments. We are on track when we ask at the end of one year and the beginning of the next:
What kind of person was I last year? What kind of person will I be next year?
Generous? Joy filled? Sober? Filled with gratitude? Peaceable? Helpful?
Or the opposite.
You can make your daily decisions about how to act in the situation by firmly being aware of what kind of person you wish to be.
Choose wisely!
Tags: attention, attitude, Discipline, disciplines, focus, growth, lifestyle, Relationship, service
Faith Venture 
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