It is God’s will for you to change! Wait! Don’t stop reading! I know that no one likes to change, but what I want to talk to you today about is good, positive change and growth in your life that God has designed.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:17
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16
“For this very reason, make every effortto supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:5-8
“For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer for you that your love may abound more and more,with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:8-11
There can be no doubt about that as we read through the New Testament. “Just what kind of change?” You may inquisitively respond. That is a great question. It is a radical change that takes you from where you are today and makes you into all that God desires you to become.
It is not just a mere change of a few habits or your basic approach to life, although I need to tell you, that those must change as well. But God wants to change the fundamental motivation of your life. Life is no longer about what you want in the here and now, but it becomes to be about all that God wants you to be and what he wants you to do.
At the core of our being is a basic selfishness. We know what we want (sometimes!) and we are wired in such a way as to put all of our thought, energy and plans into accomplishing that. BUT, when Jesus Christ comes into your life, your order of priorities gets flipped on their head. When we recognize why he came and what he wants to accomplish in us, we realize that the change is much more extensive that we ever thought possible.
God is not after only a few cosmetic changes like how you part your hair or whether you like chocolate or strawberry ice cream. More importantly, He changes our fundamental motivation for why we do what we do. As we adopt his plan and his strategy for life, everything changes. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you,” (Matthew 6:33).
As we begin to accept the change that God wants to bring to our life, we will begin to see life from a different perspective. The verse that often gets misused is Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” We will see that even the tough stuff of life has a purpose to bring us closer to love God and see that he has a greater purpose than our happiness – he wants to transform us to become like his Son, Jesus.
We need him to change the perspective in which we see and experience life. We need to see that he is incredibly faithful to change us into the people who can make a difference in our own lives and in those who live around us through his grace. What an honour it is to be in the change of character process! It means that God has greater things for us yet to do!
Are you ready?
Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Take one day at a time and rejoice in who God is and what he wants to accomplish in and through you!
For His Glory,
Pastor Bill Finch
In Times Like These 