Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Change”
Our Bible verse for today: “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Jesus is in the process of changing you.”
Yesterday we spent some time thinking about the change that occurs when an individual opens his or her heart and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior. They are “born again” – they become a brand new spiritual creation. That’s the most important change any person can ever experience.
But it’s just the beginning. From that moment forward the Lord begins a process of transformation which theologians refer to as “sanctification”. Sanctification is a fifty-cent theological word which simply means that the Holy Spirit is at work transforming you from the person you were, into the person Jesus wants you to be.
While it’s the Holy Spirit who brings about the change, we have a role to play in the process too. The spiritual disciplines are the practices we engage in which place us in a position before the Lord whereby He can change us. By means of prayer, Bible study, scripture memorization, meditation, fasting, worship, service, fellowship, and a variety of other practices, we give God the access to our lives which He needs in order to change us. The more of those practices we engage in, the more access to our lives He has and the more change He can bring about.
What kind of changes are we talking about? The changes will be many and they will vary depending on the individual, but in Galatians 5:22-23 the Apostle Paul listed nine that are pretty standard and which are evident to varying degrees in every life surrendered to the Lordship of Christ. He called them “The Fruit of the Spirit”: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” The more you allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life, the more those virtues become evident in you.
I don’t know about you but I want as much of those things as I can get.
It’s true, Jesus is in the process of changing you into the man or woman He wants you to be. But it’s not all up to Him – you have a role to play in the process of sanctification too. In fact to a very large degree how much change occurs, and how fast, depends on how cooperative you are, how faithful you are to do your part.
As we begin this New Year I encourage you to establish a daily routine that includes plenty of time for the basic disciplines of the Christian faith. If you do, by this time next year I believe you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the amount of change the Lord has brought about in your life.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 