yes we receive a new heart and new spirit, so if we are cynical before we found the Lord, we stop being cynical when we do...
if we are condescending or judgemental, angry or abusive, and coerce or manipulate, All this is meant to change when we walk with the Lord, ultimately you should STOP these behaviours
Interesting
I could be wrong here but the issues you mentioned above you have many times and if memory serves me that these were issues you had before you became a Christian.
Correct me if I am wrong, the last thing I would want to do is misrepresent you.
I am not saying that is wrong and let's be honest all of us who come to Christ have certain besetting issues.
However did we come to Christ as a result these issues or did we come to Christ because the Holy Spirit convicted us of the sin of unbelief in Jesus.
The good news being that he died in the cross for our sins, was buried and rose again.
If we repent of that sin of unbelief and believe that he did what he did to reconcile us to God then we are reconciled to the father through faith and not works.
Romans 5:1-3
Faith Triumphs in Trouble
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;
This leads me to what you say
"Ultimately you should STOP these behaviours"
For me the focus is wrong here.
What we do is focus on us and what we need to do which you seem to think is just stop.
Now if that were the case then could have just stopped anyway?
There is nothing worse than telling someone "Bible says don't do it so just stop"
The reality is that the baggage we had before becoming a Christian is actually carried over, and it doesn't just stop because we should stop doing it and infact can stop doing it.
Now I am not saying we sit back and accept it.
What I want to say make clear for me is that focus should be different concerning what we do that is wrong BUT also what we do not do that is wrong.
A lot of the stuff you mentioned will often be as a result of a trigger in our lives.
All sin is wrong but for every sin there is a cause of the affect, and this goes beyond a lot more that you mentioned above.
The focus should be on Jesus, what he has done for us.
We seek the Holy Spirit to work in us, to allow Jesus to increase, to allow the fruit of the Holy Spirit to increase in us.
He conforms us to the image of Jesus.
As a we do that as the fruit increases then our sin decreases.
Jesus takes the credit and not us.
This is why we have the Holy Spirit in us.
He is our helper, our comforter.
Doing it in our own strength will be a long long hard walk.
Things need to be revealed and healed in us.
The focus should be seeking and asking to walk as follows in the fruit.
Galatians 5:22-24
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
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