The Power To Change
2 Timothy 3:16-2
If there is one thing we desperately need in the Church today, it is for
our people to be continuously transformed by God. We need to get into His
Word until His Word gets into us! We need to see change in a lot of areas
in this world. All of us recognize that need. But even areas in people
and within the church need to be changed. And a corporate change starts
with personal change.
We must adopt the mentality that concludes: CHANGE BEGINS WITH ME. The
world will change as we change, because it is men who have changed the
world. And we as believers need to always guard against letting this
world influence us and our thinking, instead of the church influencing
the world in those areas. Because, when those roles are reversed, the sad
result is a perverted and ineffective Gospel, that will powerless to
change anyone or anything.
And so there is, I believe, BOTH a call from God, AND a demand from this
world’s condition, for the Church to get back to preaching, teaching, and
living out the
uncompromised Gospel of Jesus Christ. We need prophets of God who will
preach without fear and without favor! We need to preach the Word! We
need to say what we mean, and mean what we say. No need to alter, adjust,
or realign God’s Word. Just preach the Word, letting it speak for itself!
We don’t have to be afraid to say what the Word says. And we don’t have
to try and make it’s words a class in theology, or in technical
terminology (which most people
will not understand anyway). Somone once said, “God told me to feed my
sheep, not my giraffes.” Don’t try to get over people’s head. As Paul
told Timothy, it’s plain and simple: PREACH THE WORD!
And the longer that we live, and don’t allow the Word to do it’s work in
us, the harder it will be for us to change our views, our thinking, and
our ideas. It’s not impossible, but it is more difficult. Instead of a
hardening of the arteries, we develop a “harden-ing of the arguments.”
And though we see the need, and expect change to come, the tendency is to
look at others before you look at yourself. You become accustomed to you,
and when someone else isn’t you, and doesn’t behave like you, you think
they need to change!
But change doesn’t come by looking at other people first. It comes by
looking at ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word, and addressing the
areas that are incomplete and insufficient, that don’t measure up to His
Word! Change must become a personal occurrence in all of us. In fact,
CHANGE IS AT THE HEART OF GOD’S REDEMPTIVE PURPOSE FOR US. To follow
Jesus is to walk in footsteps of change, for change is God’s whole
purpose for our lives.
Read Romans 8:28-29
The GOOD that God is working is the process of CHANGE that’s operative in
our life, conforming us into the image of Christ.
You see, the Biblical measure of spiritual maturity is not how long we’ve
been saved, or how many spiritual things we’ve done. Instead, it is
determined by HOW MUCH
MORE LIKE CHRIST ARE WE NOW THAN WE USED TO BE. Are we growing in
Christ-likeness? That’s the issue of spiritual maturity. God takes
pleasure in seeing us grow to be more like Jesus, and to do that, we must
CHANGE – the way we think, act, function, and believe.
There are a lot of things God has given us to assist us in changing. But
a key element is the WORD OF GOD! I personally believe that it is the KEY
agent of change.
The Word teaches us of other agents of change, and the Holy Spirit even
uses the Word to effect change in our life! So, the Word is an invaluable
agent of change.
In John 17:17, Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by thy truth; thy WORD is
truth.” We are set apart by the Word of God, and the sanctifying process
involves changing the nature and character of what’s being sanctified.
So, the whole process of God sanctifying us for His purpose and use is a
process of change, in which His Word plays a key role. His Word has
supernatural power. It contains the power to change!
Let’s quickly look at our text. Paul says to Timothy, “All scripture is
inspired by God, and is profitable…[to implement change].” Now the word
“inspired” simply means it is “GOD BREATHED.” That means that the Bible
is the expression of God’s Breath
or Spirit. All of us want the spirit to be active and alive in us. We all
want God to “breathe” on us.
But that’s not just a “force in the atmosphere.” If the Word is God
breathed, then God breathes on us every time the Word is spoken, taught,
preached, or read. In these
pages, God has shared with us the very essence of His being, and that
makes this Word an invaluable treasure.
The question arises then: If the Word of God is that powerful, God
breathed and God inspired, then how can there be people who sit under the
teaching and preaching
of it, who read it daily, and yet, their lives fail to exhibit the triats
that the Word calls us to? Their lives fail to consistently change and
become more like Christ. Why is that?
There could be several reasons, but one of them is the fact that many
people see the Word as if it were a “buffet bar,” or a smorgasbord. When
you eat at a buffet, you go up and scout it out first, then go back and
pick up what you like. That’s how many people treat the Word. They scout
out the “tasty morsels” and pick out only what they want. Then they
ignore the rest as if it didn’t matter. It turned them off, or didn’t
appeal to them.
For many people, the Word is not authoritative, but it’s an optional
resource. But God has ordained the Word to be a divine diet to which the
believer is to restrict ourselves to faithfully and wholly, that we might
trim off the extra pounds of “flesh,” and become transformed!
What’s interesting is that most of us know the areas of our life that are
out of character and out of step with Christ-likeness. So, LET ME OFFER
YOU THIS ADVICE.
Identify those areas in your life that are out of step, and then search
the scriptures and see what God’s Word says about that particular trait
or characteristic. Study it out and strive to implement it into your
life.
I warn you: It will not be easy. It will take work and disciplne. But if
you will do that, then the Word of God will begin to shape you and mold
you into Christ’s image. And you’ll do that, and go through that process,
if you’re serious about changing.
Getting a grip on the Word, and letting it get a grip on you in that
manner, will equip you with…..
THE POWER TO CHANGE!
— jlg —