Minding Your Moods:
Children of Light

Scripture Reading:  Ephesians 4:18-24

Key Verse: Ephesians 4:17

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

The apostle refers to futile thinking in our printed key verse for today.  Futile thinking is defined as useless thinking, as opposed to useful thinking.  Soft addictive moods are futile thinking ways of operating.  These patterns of behavior are destructive to us and our relationships.  When you immediately act like a sad, beaten down, pitiful person when a person is trying to solve a difficult problem with you, you are falling back to a pattern that is safe for you.  It’s futile (useless) in solving the problem, but you’ve concluded that it works for you one way or another!

            We often think that these moods we allow to guide our lifestyle are “just the way we are” kinds of things.  That is a lie of the evil one!  We can change with the help of a mighty God who wants us to live as children of light!  Soft addictions lead us into a dark place: moody; self absorbed; selfish; manipulative.  People without Christ, according to Ephesians 4:18 are “darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God.”  But we are empowered with Christ in us, to break free of these mood soft addictions that have characterized our way of handling life.  With His power in us, it’s not hard, but it is scary.  We can be afraid to try a new way of dealing with issues, but if we choose to act like the children of light that we are, we can live free!

Father, I am determined to spot patterns that are futile—useless—in truly being a successful child of God.  Please grant me wisdom.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.