Hello and welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

The devotional for today is titled Fix Up Time, and it was written by Dave Brannon.

It was time to give the inside of our home a fresh new look, But just as I began prepping a room for painting,

our state government announced it would be halting the sale of many home improvement items

due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As soon as I heard the announcement, I rushed to the store and

purchased the essential materials. You simply can't remodel without the proper

supplies. Paul had a bit of a remodeling project in mind when he wrote Ephesians 4, but the changes

he was talking about went far beyond superficial alterations. Even though trusting Jesus as Savior makes us a new creation,

there's still some ongoing work the Spirit needs to do, and it takes time and work for him

to accomplish true righteousness and holiness. The presence of the Spirit makes needed changes

on the inside that can help us reflect Jesus in our words and actions.

He helps us replace lying with speaking truthfully. He guides us to avoid sin in regard to anger.

And He directs us to speak words that are helpful for building others up. These spirit-controlled actions are part of the

internal change that's manifested in things like kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. The spirit

works in us to enable us to imitate Jesus himself and reflect the heart of our Heavenly Father.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from the Apostle Paul's

Letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 4, verses 20 through 32.

That, however, is not the way of life you learn when you heard

about Christ and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught

with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by

its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude

of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and

...