A Work in Progress
by Pastor Bill Pevlor
It’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. It seems even harder to teach
a person. People don’t like change. We tend to be creatures of habit. We
easily grow comfortable with the way we do things and our pattern of thinking.
If you’ve ever tried to initiate a new, good habit or break an old, bad habit
you’ve experienced the difficulty of change.
People who try to lose weight are excellent illustrations of this
dilemma. Losing any appreciable amount of weight usually requires a considerable
change in eating habits. It is so difficult to change; most people never achieve
long-lasting results. Oh sure, you lose a pound here, you lose a pound there,
and you finally get to your desired weight. But most people will regain all the
weight they lost in six months to a year. We’ve all had the opportunity to
observe this process with the highly publicized roller-coaster struggles of TV
talk show star Oprah Winfrey.
All the times we have tried to change and have failed makes the prospects
of genuine change seem bleak. But, there’s good news from God’s Word. With
God’s help people can completely and permanently change. In fact, God’s
perfect will and desire is for you to change; that you would be more like His
son Jesus. In the New Testament book of Romans, chapter 8, verse 29 says “For
those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his
Son, that he might be the first born among many brothers.”
Don’t bother with hours of research to learn what Jesus may have looked like or what type of clothing he may have worn on earth. God does not want you to conform to the physical likeness of Jesus. He wants you to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus in your character. He longs to see us exhibit the love, compassion, faithfulness, goodness, grace, patience and truthfulness demonstrated by Jesus.
Being conformed to the likeness of Jesus seems like a pretty tall order
for people who have trouble sticking to a diet or eliminating bad habits. But
here’s more good news; God has committed His limitless resources to helping us
become conformed to the image of His Son. No matter how incapable you feel to
truly change, with God, all things are possible!
The first step to becoming more like Jesus is to become a Christian and
submit yourself to God. Jesus totally submitted Himself to His Father.
Submitting yourself to God is really just acknowledging that you believe He
knows what is best for your life. You can be sure God knows how to go about the
process of helping you conform to the likeness of His son.
The second step is to read the Bible. It is God’s manual for your life.
Jesus studied the scriptures, quoted from them and lived by them, so to be
conformed to His likeness, so should we. The Bible is not just a few thoughts
from God. It is not a book of fables with a moral to be learned after each
story. The Bible describes itself by saying “All Scripture is God breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2
Tim. 3:16,17).
The church will also play a part in this great transformation. Your
interaction with others of like faith will change your life. In Colossians 3:16
the apostle Paul instructs believers to “Let the word of Christ dwell in
you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you
sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
You should be able to find all of these elements (teaching, admonishment and the
singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs) in your local church. Jesus spent
a great deal of his life fellowshipping with other believers in a church
setting. Don’t just rush into church in time for the message and charge out
the door as soon as you are dismissed. Get involved; build relationships and
fellowship, fellowship, fellowship. Without meaningful interaction, the church
will have little effect on positive change in your life.
It’s hard to change, even when we know we need to. People plod their way through a series of self help programs, continually trying to change for the better, only to find their lives getting worse. The good news from God’s Word is you can change for the best! You can be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. The transformation is not immediate. It does involve a process. But once you begin the process you have a sure promise in Philippians 1:6 - “. . . that he (God) who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
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Faith Ministries
219 State Street, Algoma, WI 54201
Phone: 920-487-5775
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