09 Apr What Would It Take for You to Become Everything You Would Like to Be?
Last week, we asked the question, “Have you become everything you would like to be?”
This week, we ask the follow-up question, “What would it take for you to become everything you would like to be?” Magic? Money? Good luck?
Well, there’s hope. It doesn’t take any of those. Let’s look at what it does take.
I grew up the sixth of six children. So for all of my pre-adult life, my brothers and sisters were bigger than I was, knew more than I did, and could do more than I could do. So I always felt behind. I was always playing catch-up. I was always struggling to become more than I was.
And frankly, after I became a Christian as a young adult, I felt behind. I went to seminary to try to catch up, but it seemed like all the other seminarians were like my older brothers and sisters… they seemed more spiritual than I was, knew more than I did, and could do more than I could do.
So, growth is a subject of keen interest for me, and spiritual growth a subject of particularly keen interest. So, I have always been alert to what it takes to change, which I defined last week as “growth in the right direction.”
To begin to answer that question, we need to understand:
Four things that it takes for a Christian to change.
1. It takes the Holy Spirit
Of course, people can change without the Holy Spirit. Non-Christians do it all the time. But you cannot become conformed to the image of Christ without the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:29).
Here is what the Holy Spirit must do in order for us to change and become conformed to the character image of Christ:
First, He regenerates us… causes us to be born again, which we are almost taking for granted, since we are addressing Christians. Titus 3:5 says, “He save us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness… but by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”
Second, He convicts us of sin. We read in John 16:8, “And He (the Holy Spirit), when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin,” meaning He causes us to see that something in our life is wrong and needs to change.
Third, He calls us to righteousness. Philippians 2:13 says, “It is God who is at work within you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” God puts godly desires in our hearts and draws us to do them.
Fourth, He illumines our minds to understand the deeper truths of Scripture. In 2 Corinthians 2:12 we read, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but those taught by the Spirit…”
Fifth, He empowers us to live up to what we know and embrace. In Ephesians 3:16, Paul prays that God “would grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man…”
So, the Holy Spirit is necessary for us to change. But the Holy Spirit alone is not all it takes. It is part of God’s plan to include more than the Holy Spirit in His process for change.
2. It takes the Word
The Holy Spirit also uses the Word of God in our lives. If we want to grow to become adequate, equipped for everything God wants to do through us, it takes the Scriptures.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
3. It takes other Christians
God has also created Christians to be interdependent on one another. He likens us to a body, each with different characteristics, needing one another, just as all members of a physical body need the other members.
Ephesians 4:15-16 says, “We are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. So, it takes the fellowship and ministry of other Christians for us to change, to become like Christ.
4. It takes commitment to change
Finally, and perhaps most important to the practical reality of change, we must commit to change.
Even with a commitment to change, change is still hard. Without a commitment to change, significant change is unlikely.
In Romans 12:2 we read: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Working that passage backward, we see that we can be living demonstrations of the fact that God’s will is good and acceptable and perfect, but only if our lives are transformed. And our lives will only be transformed as our minds are renewed.
However, there is a powerful principle related to change found earlier in Romans 12:1. “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
This passage tells us that the process of change in Romans 12:2 is built on the decision to change in Romans 12:1. We must present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. When we have made that commitment, we are then ready to experience mental renewal leading to life transformation.
Without Romans 12:1, you cannot have Romans 12:2.
Conclusion
Since I have come to understand more fully the role of mental renewal in life transformation, I have grown more than at any time in my Christian life. It has been a game changer for me.
In upcoming posts, we will be taking a deeper dive into this topic of change, looking at information, principles and strategies that will help us renew our minds and transform our lives.
Step #1, however, is to commit to change… to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God. Have you made that commitment? If not, why not make it now, then the process of change we’ll be looking at in future blogs will take on greater importance and impact as the Lord leads you to fulfill your commitment.
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