How to change?
Most people realize that when they look at their lives, there is at least one thing that they would like to change. When Christians think about what things they would like to change most in their lives, it usually involves their spiritual disciplines. Praying more, spending more time in the Word, being involved in church or service activities, etc. are all good ways in which many believers want to change. But the question is how? How do we mature spiritually and become more like Christ?
The answer that many look to is by making resolutions and “trying harder.” But often the zeal with which we begin our new activities does not last very long. When we add to that the guilt we often face for not being able to make the changes that we desire we are often left discouraged and wonder why we even bother at all, resigning to saying “this is just the way that I am.”
The Key: Gospel Grace
But one of the amazing things we find in the gospel is that we didn’t come into the Christian life through our effort, and neither is it primarily through our effort that we grow and change. Titus 3:5 says “He [Jesus] saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit is God’s agent of change that fills our hearts bringing renewal, new life, and progress in our walk with Christ. When we read God’s Word and pray asking for God to open our understanding to what it says, it is the Holy Spirit who helps us see Who God is and what Christ has done for us. As we get to know Him more and more, and grasp how great His love is, we begin to resemble Him in our lives.
One pastor put it like this, “sacrificial love awakens sacrificial love.” That is to say, the more we see and experience His grace, the more it produces not only a desire to change, but actual change in us. The snares of sin and selfishness are broken as His love moves and motivates us towards obedience, not because we are trying to earn God’s favor, but because in Christ, it is already ours! Growing by grace is the power by which every believer experiences true spiritual changes,and it is available to us through prayer and through work of the Spirit as we look to our Savior in faith.
Blessings.
