Tag: Life with God

Transformed? pt.3

good evilOne day Jesus and His disciples were traveling and after a long day of travel and ministry they began to look for a place to rest.  It was getting close to the time where He was going to be betrayed and crucified and He was on His way to Jerusalem.  So He sent some people on ahead to the next town to find a place to stay.  The town was in Samaria and when the Samaritans heard He was traveling to Jerusalem they refused to let Him stay.  James and John, two of Jesus disciples were outraged at being treated this way and responded by asking Jesus “James and John, His followers, saw this. They said, “Lord, do You want us to speak so fire will come down from heaven and burn them up as Elijah did?”  Jesus turned and spoke sharp words to them. (*He said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you have.  The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives. He came to save them from the punishment of sin.” They went on their way to another town.)”  Luke 9:54-56 NLV

You do not know what kind of spirit you have.   It is something that we as Christians need to ask ourselves.  There are three kinds of spirit at work on us.  We have the will to choose to do things our own way and follow ourselves.  God is constantly calling to us and we have the choice to follow Him.  And there is the devil who as long as we are not following God doesn’t have to do much with us.  We need to choose which one we follow.

Most of us as Christians follow ourselves and we don’t see transformation in our lives.  It is up to us whom we follow.  Paul wrote a lot on this topic, but specifically in Galatians 5.  He wrote similar to Jesus and said we have to decide which spirit we will have or follow.  And the one we chose to follow would be evidenced by our lives.  And this isn’t a choice we can make passively, because both sides are battling each other.  “I say this to you: Let the Holy Spirit lead you in each step. Then you will not please your sinful old selves.  The things our old selves want to do are against what the Holy Spirit wants. The Holy Spirit does not agree with what our sinful old selves want. These two are against each other. So you cannot do what you want to do. ”  Galatians 5:16-17 NLV   By default we follow ourselves and do what we want to do.  If we don’t choose to follow God we choose to follow ourselves.  We need to decide and act on that decision.

Paul wrote that the evidence of following ourselves is “The things your sinful old self wants to do are: sex sins, sinful desires, wild living,  worshiping false gods, witchcraft, hating, fighting, being jealous, being angry, arguing, dividing into little groups and thinking the other groups are wrong, false teaching,  wanting something someone else has, killing other people, using strong drink, wild parties, and all things like these.”  and the result of them is “I told you before and I am telling you again that those who do these things will have no place in the holy nation of God.”  Galatians 5:19-21 NLV  This sounds just like the world we all live in, and unfortunately most of the churches we attend.

But transformed lives can be ours to live.  We don’t have to live life like everyone else.  And a transformed life is the best message we can offer the world around us.  One of the best times for evangelism is in the first few months after someone chooses to follow Christ and their friends can actually see the transformations happening.  And life with God isn’t supposed to be simply about talking to people,  it was meant to be about flowing with God and in His power.  “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” 1 Corinthians 4:20 NLT

When we choose to let God lead our lives can be transformed because the evidence of our choice is transformation.  Paul continued to tell us “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 5:22-23 NLV  This is a great contrast to living life our way.  Jesus demonstrated this life for us and invites us to do the same.  We need to evaluate the fruit in our lives and decide which spirit we will be of.  The choice is up to us, but the rewards can be huge.

who-you-follow-makes-a-difference“If the Holy Spirit is living in us, let us be led by Him in all things.” Galatians 5:25 NLV

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.

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.