Category: Christian Life

Transformed? pt 2

transformedTransformation is a part of our Christian walk.  It is something that happens from the day that we give our lives to Christ, and continues on until the life of Christ is reflected through us.  Which is something we as Christians see little of.  There is more of the world in most of us than the life of Christ.

When we look at changing our lives we as Christians often make one of two mistakes.  The first is we try to do the work ourselves.  All of us have heard sermons about the need for our lives to be different in one way or another.  “We need to get the sin out of the camp” was a popular topic and phrase when I was growing up.  There are sermons upon sermons which talk about behaviors we have that we shouldn’t, and having behaviors that we cannot seem to have.

Paul wrote in Colossians 3:8 “ Put out of your life these things also: anger, bad temper, bad feelings toward others, talk that hurts people, speaking against God, and dirty talk.” NLV  And we push hard to change, which lasts for a little while and then the old behaviors start again and discouragement settles in and the desire to change dissipates.  And we have hard working people striving to become better and who usually end up being bitter and judgmental and demanding of changes in others they were not able to make themselves.

The second mistake we make is that all the changes in our lives are God’s doing.  And while some of this is true it also falls on us to make the changes.  If we simply wait for God to change us we will again be disappointed and become disillusioned with God and Christianity.  In the above verse it states that we  need to put these things out of your life.

Change begins in our lives when we choose to submit to God and allow Him to take charge of our lives.  Without this first level of submission and commitment nothing else happens.  As we accept the work of God in us and choose to submit to His reign over us as Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:16 “Live as servants owned by God at all times. ” NLV.   In fact several of the apostles in scripture wrote much the same as James did “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” James 1:1 HCSB

Once we actually stop trying to live our lives our way and we come to submit to the authority and leadership of God the changes in our lives can begin and the grace of God can do it’s job in us.  And God can speak to us about the changes we need to make, and then we can decide to put off anger and all the other things God talks to us about and as we decide to obey the power of God enables the change to happen in our lives.  And the life of Christ deepens and grows within us.  But it all starts with submission.  As we choose to release our lives to His control all that we desire to see happen in our lives begins to happen, and the effort and the struggle get replaced with the power and presence of our God.

Transformed?

purple minion

Change.  It is something most people hate.  Because change causes us to step outside our comfort zones and away from things we have come to appreciate and value.  Change opens us up for disappointment when things don’t go the way we wanted, or we don’t achieve the result we were looking or hoping for.  Change opens the door to failure and failure is something that many people fear.  When you bring up the subject of change the most common response people give is “What if it doesn’t work?”  One of the most common phrases we use in the English language relating to change is “Better the devil you know, than the one you don’t!”

And yet change is something that is a part of life.  It happens almost daily.  Change is something we need to embrace and not run away from.  Change is a part of growth and development, and without change we can never grow.  We don’t fear the change our children go through as they mature, but we sure scramble to take them to the doctor when things aren’t  changing as they should.

Change is a part of life.  And if we are followers ominion_transformationf Jesus change is all the more important.  Statistics show that change is not apart of the lives of those who call themselves Christian.  In every way we are consistently like the world around us.  We have the same habits, go to the same shows, use the same language and have the same behaviours.  The only difference there seems to be is we gather together for our weekly religious duty in the big holy building down the street.

“without transformation that starts with repentance, the crucifixion of self, and, yes, even some of our cultural values and habits, there will be little redemptive power left to touch and transform our societies with the gospel. Christianity has never been cheap; it was always meant to cost us our very lives.” Wolfgang Samson ‘The House Church’

We are called to be agents of change in a world that is lost, and we have left our role behind and become just like the world we live in.  Jesus came into the world to demonstrate to us who God is and to call us to be apart of His family and be like Him.  It was always our destiny, until we decided to do things our own way.  And God took it upon Himself to bring us back because He loves us so much.  But we need to do it His way, and allow Him to work on us bringing about the changes that we need.  God is a master of changing people.  I know a great many people who can attest to this, myself included.  But we need to let Him do what He can do.

Change is apart ominionf our lives as Christians.  Christian wasn’t just supposed to be a cultural name we attached to ourselves and continue living our way.  Christian was meant to be a description of who we were becoming.  Christian means “little Christ”, or “like Christ”.  And the effect of having God in our lives is change.  Jesus said to His disciples that we would be able to tell who people were by their lives.  “You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act.”  Matthew 7:16 NLV and the fruit of having a real connection with God and a life lived in restored relationship to His is one of love.   “But the fruit that comes from having the Holy Spirit in our lives is: love, joy, peace, not giving up, being kind, being good, having faith, 23 being gentle, and being the boss over our own desires.” Galatians 5:22 NLV. 

There is a lot of things in our world being passed of as Christianity.  And the majority of it is crap.  We need to return to the methods laid out by Jesus for deciding who and what  is Christian.  How’s your fruit?

I’ll do what’s right for me

I’ll do what is right for me is a famous saying that many people we know have used.  I know I have heard it several times in my life.  It is usually used when someone disagrees with you about how something should be  done, and what actions are appropriate.  Sometimes it is used when changing careers, or changing spouses.  There are many situations it comes up.

We live in a society where standards are disappearing.  You cannot even get a grade is schools anymore. You participate or not.  You don’t pass or fail.  People decide for themselves how to act given the situation.  Even standards of behaviour have gone out the window.  Growing up you never swore around women or children.  Now days even the kids are talking like sailors.
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Working as a scale technician I have come to appreciate the value of a standard.  Every day I find myself looking at a scale which people say works correctly. And until I place my standards on the scale I could believe them.  Without having a standard to compare ourselves to we will never know if we are meeting the mark or missing it completely.  GPS has become a valuable tool for all of us.  It gives us direction and allows us to see where we are compared to where we think we are.  Standards are everywhere in our society.  We just neglect to use them when it comes to our personal lives.

Christians have gotten a lot of bad press over the years because of this very thing.  We have often missed the mark and without having a standard to guide us we have never known.  Christians have become some of the most bitter, judgemental and critical people around.  I know people who will not hire Christians because they cause the most trouble, do the least work, and complain and steal from the company.  We have completely missed our standard and done what we thought was right.  We speak out vocally against what we see is wrong in our society, and usually completely ignore what is wrong with us.  We have changed our tune to meet what we thought society wanted.  We have worked hard at being accepted the we have lost influence.  And it is because we have lost our standard.

A standard can never be changed.  It can never be disagreed with. Our situation has to measure up the the standard, not the standard to our situation.  When I find a scale that doesn’t match my test standards, I don’t question the correctness of the standard.  I adjust and repair the scale to meet the standard I have placed on it.  And it is much the same with us as Christians.  We have lost our standard over the years and have gone down many paths that God never intended us to.  It has spread division and spawned fights that have separated families, broken homes, and destroyed lives.  And it doesn’t sound like the church Jesus had in mind.

Jesus left us with one standard to follow.  And if we do it right we will fulfill every command that He gave us, and we will become who He called us to be.  Jesus said in John 13:34-35 “34 So I give you a new command: Love each other deeply and fully. Remember the ways that I have loved you, and demonstrate your love for others in those same ways. 35 Everyone will know you as My followers if you demonstrate your love to others.”

The Voice (VOICE)

We can become all that God calls us to if we actually align ourselves with the standard Jesus left for us.  For most of us that will me a recalibration of our values and thought.  But that is ok because that is what God is best at.  We don’t work up our ability to love we receive it.  1John 4:19 “We love because He has first loved us.”  We need to plug in again to our source, recognize our need to be recalibrated and then we can spread the love God has for the world.