Keep The Change

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (NKJV)

A Christian’s life should be marked by constant change. No matter what level of discipline, maturity or victory we reach, while living in this sin-cursed world, we will always be far short of being completely Christ-like.

Is this a frustrating “dangle the carrot” situation? Hardly. Far from that, it gives us a truly worthy purpose each day and lays in front of us a lifetime of fulfilling work and a bottomless well of potential personal growth. Knowing that there is beneficial, eternally profitable change that we can make in our life every day, should make each day an exciting spiritual adventure but in order for that to be your reality, you have to think about “change”, understand “why?”, and do it with a purpose.

A Christian’s life should be identifiable by and marked with:
CHANGE

Of course we could write volumes about what and how to change, so I’ll just give you quick list of a few things to think about. Christianity should change you. It should change your attitudes. It should change your behavior. The fact that we are total dependent on God (and thanks heavens we are!) should saturate every aspect of our “person” and begin to change us from the inside out. Here’s a few things to consider:

• Complaining: what is there to complain about? God has saved you, forgiven you. You have eternal life. Complaints? They only show our lack of understanding and selfishness. You were headed to hell. Now you’re headed to eternal life with joy unimaginable. Complain? About what????? (Phil 2:14)
  
• Critical spirit: what do you have to be critical about? The people are you are criticizing are just as helpless as you. Apart from God, you would be just as bad as the worst person. Who are we to criticize anyone when we are totally dependent on God to do one good act? (Rom 12:15)
• Patience: we are all equally dependent on God and each have plenty of struggles. We should graciously exercise the same patience with others as God as shown to us. Which one of us would not freely admit that God has been MORE than patient with our feeble attempts and failures? (James 1:4)
• Compassion: God chose us, drew us, saved us. We had no hope, facing eternal death and punishment. Every person is in the same predicament. God has shown eternal and undeserved compassion towards us. How much more should we show the same to others? (1Pet 3:8)
• Forgiveness: The next time you hold on to unforgiveness for even a moment, remember what God forgave you of… and what he continually forgives you for each day. Be honest. You know… that sin you keep committing over and over. Imagine God’s forgiveness being as stingy and grudging as ours. Learn to forgive like God forgives. Quickly, honestly, repeatedly. (Eph 4:32)
• Optimism: We should begin to cultivate a practice of seeing the good in others and in our circumstances. Our lives should be marked by seeing God’s work and purpose in everything that comes our way, regardless of the nature of the circumstance. (Romans 15:13)
• Serving heart: our lives should transform into loving, caring, serving, and preferring others over ourselves. Christ gave up infinitely more for us. In gratitude to our Saviour, our least response should be that of demonstrating Christ in our life by sacrificial service. (Phil 2:4)
• Praise & thanksgiving: should not the ultimate gift produce the ultimate “thank you”? (Psalms 149:5)
  

What are you changing today? God doesn’t expect us to be able to change everything all at once, but He does expect us to be working on changing SOMETHING each day.