First, I want to note that when you first come to Christ, you do NOT have to clean up. You are to come to Him just as you are, dirty and all.
“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
~Romans 5:8
See, that Scripture doesn’t say, clean up first, then I will die for you so you can know me. NO! It states that He died for us, WHILE we were still sinners! See, God knows we cannot change (really, truly, life altering change) our lives on our own. We just can’t! That is why God sent His son, Jesus, to die for us!!!
Now, back on topic…Most of us find that even after we are saved, change is very hard. There are times when we get “hit upside the head with a two by four”, as an old friend from my days in youth group used to say, and when that happens, we see an immediate change. Those times however are not as often as the everyday, emotional and spiritual changes that God tries to create in us. It could be that you need to quite cussing, that you are following in some of the bad behaviors that your parents did with you when it comes to your children, or that you need to let go of an addiction.
These types of changes are never immediate. I think that is what makes change so hard for us. We live in a society of instant gratification…fast food that you can get in under 10 minutes, instant messages and cell phones, even Kool-Aid packets that can be mixed in your water for instant Kool-Aid. We expect things to happen now, when we want it and not have to wait. So when it comes to change, we expect it instantly also. However, change is not instant. We don’t wake up one morning and never smoke again, we don’t just decide to stop cussing and never utter another bad word, we don’t choose to be gentler with our children and never yell again. Change is not instant! It’s a gradual, healing process. That’s right, it’s a healing process. Consider that the thing you need to change is a sin…I mean really it is…cussing, lying, etc…it’s a sin. So, since we are sinful creatures from the moment we are born and sin causes scars, it’s a gradual and a healing process.
This is where I am at. I have many areas in my life, but this week has been about changing one area in particular. It’s an area that I didn’t even realize was as deep seated as it was until something was said to me by a dear, sweet young man. Immediately I felt like I had been slapped…not because this person stated it in a rude or guilt provoking kind of way…quite the opposite, it was stated in the sweetest, kindest, most matter of fact way possible. I felt like I had been slapped because all of a sudden, I saw in me something that I had hated about another person for years. (Just to clarify, I hated this thing in that other person, not that person.) I saw myself through this young mans eyes and didn’t like what I saw. So, after a good conversation and some soul searching, I began to work on changing it. Turns out that by working on changing this area in my life, some other things that had been difficult began to get just a little bit easier. Now, believe me, it’s not easy and there are moments that I find myself just about to fall back into that behavior…after all, it’s only been a week and I have apparently been dealing with this for many year…but it’s slowly working.
I want to say this though…this change was not brought to my attention by this young man just because…no, I am convinced that it was a divine word from God. And on that note, the change that I am making in this area is not from me! On the contrary, the change is ONLY possible because of God. There is no way that this change could be lasting without the hand of God in it and in my life. I am nothing without Him, but with Him, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!
Change isn’t easy…but it’s always, most definitely, absolutely worth it!!
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Blessed Beyond Measure 