Ephesians 4:22-24
“Put off your old nature, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and by the renewing of your minds, put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
[This message is a repeat from a devotional I posted several years ago. It is an essential message for our time, so I share it again here.]
One of the attributes that should distinguish Christians is mental toughness. However, it is rare to see “mental toughness” and “Christian” used together. This is unfortunate, because when you think about it, Christians should be the most mentally tough people on the planet.
Putting off the old nature and putting on the new nature requires mental toughness. It requires saying no to the deceitful desires and impulses of the old life, and saying yes to God’s standards of right thinking and living.
Mental toughness is the ability to do eight things:
- Trust God (faith)
- Pay careful attention to what matters and block out distractions (focus).
- Remain calm and confident under pressure (discipline).
- Give relentless effort for as long as necessary to achieve goals (perseverance).
- Respond to adversity and recover quickly from mistakes and disappointments (resilience).
- Do what needs to be done even if you don’t feel like it (motivation).
- Recognize and respond effectively to the emotions of others (empathy).
- Defeat fear (courage).
No matter a person’s job or role in life, the value of these eight mental attributes is enormous. Leading, coaching, parenting, teaming, working, being a student, being an athlete, training, competing, selling, customer service, driving your car, interacting with people at work/home/community/church … all of these life situations are made better when you are mentally tough.
We need to trust God.
We need focus, discipline, and perseverance.
We need resilience, motivation, and empathy.
We need to defeat fear.
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and a sound mind.” (1 Timothy 1.7)
