Durruck
Pirate!
Other-centered Thinking
By Rick Warren
“Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind.” (Psalm 67:2 LB)
As we discussed yesterday, God invites you to participate in the greatest, largest, most diverse, and most significant cause in history – his kingdom. He’s building his family for eternity. Nothing matters more, and nothing will last as long.
As you develop into a world-class Christian, ready at any moment to serve God and his purpose, your perspective and attitudes must change. You’ll need to make some mental shifts.
For instance:
Shift from self-centered thinking to other-centered thinking. The Bible teaches, “My friends, stop thinking like children. Think like mature people.” (1 Corinthians 14:20 CEV) This is the first step to becoming a world-class Christian. Children only think of themselves; grown-ups think of others. God commands, “Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others too.” (Philippians 2:4 NLT)
Of course, this is a difficult mental shift because we’re naturally self-absorbed and the culture tends to encourage us to think of ourselves. The only way we can make this paradigm switch is by a moment-by-moment dependence on God. Fortunately he doesn’t leave us to struggle on our own. “God has given us his Spirit. That’s why we don’t think the same way that the people of this world think.” (1 Corinthians 2:2 CEV)
Begin asking the Holy Spirit to help you to think of the spiritual need of unbelievers whenever you talk to them. With practice, you can develop the habit of praying silent “breath prayers” for those you encounter. Say, “Father, help me to understand what is keeping this person from knowing you.”
Your goal is to figure out where others are in their spiritual journey and then do whatever will bring them a step closer to knowing Christ. You can learn how to do this by adopting the mindset of Paul, who said, “I don’t think about what would be good for me but about what would be good for many people so that they might be saved.” (1 Corinthians 10:33 GW)
So what?
· Ask for vision – Ask God to give you his vision: “Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind.” (Psalm 67:2 LB)
· Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the spiritual need of the unbelievers you meet. Pray: “Father, help me to understand what is keeping this person from knowing you.”
· Start thinking differently – God’s spirit is already inside you; you just need to listen and obey. “God has given us his spirit. That’s why we don’t think the same way that the people of this world think.” (1 Corinthians 2:2 CEV)
The above content is provided in its entirety from purposedrivenlife.com and used with the full permission of the website. Additional archives of the Purpose Driven Life devotionals can be found in their archive.
By Rick Warren
“Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind.” (Psalm 67:2 LB)
As we discussed yesterday, God invites you to participate in the greatest, largest, most diverse, and most significant cause in history – his kingdom. He’s building his family for eternity. Nothing matters more, and nothing will last as long.
As you develop into a world-class Christian, ready at any moment to serve God and his purpose, your perspective and attitudes must change. You’ll need to make some mental shifts.
For instance:
Shift from self-centered thinking to other-centered thinking. The Bible teaches, “My friends, stop thinking like children. Think like mature people.” (1 Corinthians 14:20 CEV) This is the first step to becoming a world-class Christian. Children only think of themselves; grown-ups think of others. God commands, “Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others too.” (Philippians 2:4 NLT)
Of course, this is a difficult mental shift because we’re naturally self-absorbed and the culture tends to encourage us to think of ourselves. The only way we can make this paradigm switch is by a moment-by-moment dependence on God. Fortunately he doesn’t leave us to struggle on our own. “God has given us his Spirit. That’s why we don’t think the same way that the people of this world think.” (1 Corinthians 2:2 CEV)
Begin asking the Holy Spirit to help you to think of the spiritual need of unbelievers whenever you talk to them. With practice, you can develop the habit of praying silent “breath prayers” for those you encounter. Say, “Father, help me to understand what is keeping this person from knowing you.”
Your goal is to figure out where others are in their spiritual journey and then do whatever will bring them a step closer to knowing Christ. You can learn how to do this by adopting the mindset of Paul, who said, “I don’t think about what would be good for me but about what would be good for many people so that they might be saved.” (1 Corinthians 10:33 GW)
So what?
· Ask for vision – Ask God to give you his vision: “Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind.” (Psalm 67:2 LB)
· Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the spiritual need of the unbelievers you meet. Pray: “Father, help me to understand what is keeping this person from knowing you.”
· Start thinking differently – God’s spirit is already inside you; you just need to listen and obey. “God has given us his spirit. That’s why we don’t think the same way that the people of this world think.” (1 Corinthians 2:2 CEV)
The above content is provided in its entirety from purposedrivenlife.com and used with the full permission of the website. Additional archives of the Purpose Driven Life devotionals can be found in their archive.