Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Excellence”
Our Bible verse for today: “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Transformation occurs slowly and progressively over time.”
There’s an old story about two men, members of the same church, who hadn’t seen each other in a long time because one of the men had stopped coming to church. One day they met on the street and the first man said to the second, “I haven’t seen you in church in a long time, how come?” The second man answered, “I decided it was a waste of time. I sat in church for years and during that time I listened to hundreds of sermons, but two days later I couldn’t even remember what the preacher had preached the previous Sunday. It had no real impact and so it was a waste of time.”
To that the first man responded, “I’ve been married for forty years. During those years my wife cooked a meal for me every day and I honestly don’t remember most of those meals. However, each of those meals nourished me at that time and kept me well fed and healthy. My body would have ended up in pretty poor condition if I had not had those meals.”
The point of the story is that every time you pray; every time you read your Bible; every time you attend worship services or participate in an act of ministry, your spirit is nourished and you grow a little spiritually. If you deny your spirit that regular nourishment it will wither and become sickly, just as your physical body would if you skipped meals each day.
The path to excellence in life is paved with numerous, seemingly small but very important, good daily habits. That’s true physically as well as spiritually. If you want to be spiritually healthy, if you want to keep growing spiritually, you have to do the things that facilitate spiritual health and growth.
That’s what Paul was writing about in Romans 12:2. Christ-like transformation occurs as the result of regular and steady spiritual nourishment. The term “Christian” means to be “Christ-like”. We become more and more Christ-like slowly and progressively over time as we consistently place ourselves in a position before God whereby He can mold us and shape us, slowly transforming us into the men and women He wants us to be.
Daily prayer and Bible study, along with regular and full participation in the life of a good church family, are essential elements for spiritual health and growth. The transformation will occur, but how much and how fast will depend to a large extent on how much spiritual nourishment you get.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 