Spring is here, school is almost over and graduation is here. Many of us have decisions on what job to take for summer, where to live or what classes to take. Our lives seem to always be moving and just as the weather has seasons, there are their seasons in our lives.
But there are also attitudes, thoughts and behaviors that we think we cannot change and never will. They are things we have gotten into the habit of doing.
Being a Christian, I believe that God can change people. Jesus has called us to change, and in the word of one of my friends, “God loves us too much to keep us like we are.”
To me, it’s obvious that there are things we cannot change. For example, we cannot change whether our eyes are green, brown or any other color (colored contacts don’t count!). We are born that way.
No matter how much we want to be taller or shorter, we do not have any control over these characteristics. But we do have a choice on how we act, believe and think.
Jesus gave us a gift when he died on the cross and made a way for us to have a relationship with a Holy God in a way that was not available before. One aspect of His gift of salvation is that he will help us to change and grow as people.
One of my favorite examples in the Bible is when a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery was brought before the Scribes and Pharisees with intentions of stoning her.
However, Jesus came to her rescue and said to her accusers that the one without sin cast the first stone. Jesus wrote on the ground for each one. Then they left the woman alone because they were convicted by their own conscience.
Each one of the Pharisees and Scribes left once the only person standing there without sin was Jesus. So, did Jesus cast a stone at her and condemn her?
No.
You know what he told her?
“Neither do I condemn you: go, and sin no more.”
He did not embarrass her or say she had to be perfect. But he added, “Go, and sin no more.” He did not want her to go back to the situation she was in, he told her to change for her benefit.
Jesus is the difference maker in the life of a Christian. When we encounter him and experience salvation, there is no way that we can stay the same person we were before we encountered him.
Now, is change easy? No way!
I know that when I first became a Christian I had sins in my life that were easy to turn from, but then there were sins that have been very hard to change in my life. But with Jesus, the sins that have haunted me and those I have struggled with have become less and less of a temptation.
The Bible talks about how you will not be tempted any more than you can take, but that God will make a way of escape that you can bear the temptation. God makes ways out for us when we are tempted, but we have to choose to take those ways of escape.
God will not make you change because he gave you free will to choose to follow him or to live how you want. When you choose to follow Jesus it is a heart change and he starts to show you things in your life that you never saw before.
Jesus has given us the ability to overcome the besetting sins and habits in our lives that hinder us from really knowing him in an intimate way. As you start reading the Bible on a regular basis and hanging out with him, you start to see how you want to be more like Jesus every day.
Jesus starts to show you the wrong attitudes, thoughts and behaviors when you follow him. He does not condemn you, but he shows you how to overcome. Above all else you will start to see how Jesus loves you and I.
Change is a life-long process and following Jesus is like running a marathon, not a rabbit race. Life is not given to flight of foot, but to the persistent heart that does not quit the race of running with Jesus. So, let’s get running!
E-mail Brad with comments at [email protected].