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Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" Romans 12:2
If only spiritual transformation were that easy. Just read a book, see a counselor, attend a conference, make a fresh commitment, resolve to be different, shed a few tears at an altar, memorize a few verses...and, presto, out comes a mature, godly Christian. To the contrary, the experience of many believers looks like this:
Commit. Fail. Confess.
Re-commit. Fail again. Confess again. Re-re-commit.
Fail again. Give up.
After all the struggle and the effort, we tend to want a "quick fix" — a book, a conference, a counselor, an encounter, a miraculous deliverance, a program — something that will be effective and preferably pain-free. We want God (or someone else) to do something to us for a once-for-all victory so that we won't have to keep wrestling with the same old issues.
In my own walk with God, I have discovered some helpful principles about how spiritual change takes place.
1. Deep, lasting spiritual change is a process
It rarely happens overnight. It involves training, testing and time. There are no shortcuts. We hear of people being dramatically delivered from drug or alcohol addiction, and we may wonder, "Why doesn't God do that for me? Why do I have to struggle with this food addiction, with lust, worry, and fear, with an unbridled tongue?"
2. Spiritual change requires a desire
We need to ask ourselves: Do I really want to change, or am I content to remain as I am? How important is it to me to be like Jesus? What price am I willing to pay to be godly?
3. Spiritual change flows out of an intimate relationship with Jesus
We want to please those we love, and we are grieved when we offend them. The more we love Jesus, the greater will be our motivation to obey Him and to make the choices that please Him. The ultimate issue in life is what or whom we worship. The process of true change takes place as we are weaned from our love and worship of self, pleasure and this world; and our hearts become wholly devoted to Christ.
4. Spiritual change requires discipline
I can remember as a college student sitting for hours on end in tiny, windowless practice rooms, playing the same piece of music again and again. I knew that I never would reach my goal — to make beautiful music — without that rigorous discipline. Discipline is defined as "training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior." Discipline is not part of the sin nature, but it is a natural component of the Christian life. In fact, almost nothing of any significance in our lives is ever accomplished without it.
Spiritual disciplines can be described as those behaviors that augment our spiritual growth and enable us to grow to spiritual maturity. This process of spiritual growth and development begins to take place the moment a person encounters the risen Christ and comes to Him for salvation.The purpose of spiritual discipline is the development of our inner being, that which has been transformed by Christ at salvation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Redeemed believers have experienced the total renewal of the whole person from within, involving differences in thought, feeling and character that may be slower to be evident in our outward behavior. This is what Paul had in mind when he spoke of taking off the "old self" and putting on the new, “which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:9-10).
5. Spiritual change is brought about by the Holy Spirit
As we exercise faith and obedience So which is it? Does God do the work, or do we? According to Scripture, the answer is "yes." Philippians 2:12-13 says, "Work out your salvation...for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." True spiritual change is initiated and enabled by the indwelling Spirit of God; it is all of grace, which we receive as we persevere in humility, obedience and faith.
6. Spiritual change is possible (and assured)
Because of the new life we received when we were born again According to God's Word, at the point of regeneration we became, "a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). For believers, holy living is not a matter of trying harder, but rather of walking in the reality of a supernatural change that already has taken place. Sanctification is the process by which the change of God has wrought within us is worked out in our daily experience, as we "are being transformed into [Christ's] likeness" (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is a lifelong — and sometimes painful — process. But we have the confidence that one day the transformation will be complete, and, "we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).
#Change #NewLife #SpiritualChange #Transformation #Renewed #SpiritualDiscipline