Reveration Blog
2/18/2013 ChangeMeditation 1 John 3:2,3—Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. Change is the recognition of our inadequacy. By myself I am incapable of holiness. We carefully budget our finances and then a tooth breaks, the roof leaks, and the car suddenly breaks down. It is far easier to complain or to be frustrated than to be joyful (1 Th. 5:16). A driver cuts in front of me almost causing an accident. My normal first reaction is to be frustrated and to utter unkind words. If my heart is in tune with heaven I’m thankful I braked in time and able to ask God to help that other driver be more observant. What hour goes by that there is not something in me that could improve and be more Christ-like?
Change is the avowed enemy of complacency. If we resist changing we don’t understand “we are God’s children now”and we certainly don’t understand our Father’s plan. A perfect Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42b). If perfection required change what makes us think we should be left alone? Change is hard. Kim Cameron and Marc Lavine cited a study of people who had recently undergone heart bypass surgery in Making the Impossible Possible: They were given a choice by their physicians of changing their lifestyles or of dying. A consistent result over several decades, including thousands of patients, is that only about 10 percent actually make the change. More than 90 percent of people choose death rather than implement major changes in their lives. Opposition to change is universal and persistent. 1 John 5:19 reminds us “that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.” Though it is a challenge to modify our thoughts and behavior with God all things are possible. Change is the proof of hope. Hope by its very meaning implies there is something or someone better! “What we will be has not yet been revealed.” God is going to make us different than we are now. Jesus wants us to be like Him. John asserts that when He appears we willbe likeHim. Right now we can only see Him through earthly lens smudged, scratched, and fogged by our flawed condition. Change is coming! Change is a requirement of transformation. “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself.” Purification requires alterations! “The hope of appearing before the presence of God, and of seeing Christ as He is, necessarily inspires its possessors with the desire of putting away every defilement which clouds the vision of God.”[1] More simply put, Max Lucado writes in The Applause of Heaven, “You change your life by changing your heart.” ©2013 Daniel York ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause. If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box. Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice. Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth. (Holman CSB) [1]A.E. Brooke, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Johannine Epistles The International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1912). Comments are closed.
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Photo from Rachel Maxey Miles