CHANGE – GOD’S GIFT

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing – John 15:5

“Without Him we can do nothing…if we are to be changed at all, it must be God who does the changing. “All virtue,” said Augustine, “is a miracle.”

Change is God’s gift to His children. He wants it for us and it is His nature to give it. George MacDonald asks, “Are you able to worship a God who will give you all the little things He does not care about, but will not give you help to do all the things He wants you to do, but which you do not know how to do?” Or as Jesus put it, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him” (Mathew 7:11).

We must ask God to change us – give Him all that’s wrong in us and wait for His working.

Oh, there are other things we can do – meditate on His word and seek His will with a determination to do it; think deeply about ourselves and the underlying causes of our behaviour; avoid people and situations that are ruinous to our souls; worship with God’s people and look to them for intercessions, encouragement, and support. These things work on us to draw us ever more deeply into His heart and into His hands. In the end only He can change us and make us what we were meant to be. “The one who has called you is faithful and HE will do it!” (1 Thessalonians 5:24)…

It comes to this: we can try to achieve righteousness on our own, or we can receive it. The one makes us uptight because we’re never good enough to satisfy ourselves; the other makes us grateful for any progress we’ve made.

Are you dissatisfied with yourself? Do you hate your sin and long to do better? Then you are of the same mind with God and you can ask Him to bring growth to you, “first the stalk, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.” We may despair of ourselves (that, it seems, is inevitable); but we should never despair of God. He is out to mature us…

Let God do what seems right to Him. Press on in the confidence that His processes are adequate…asking for His help and offering yourself up to His will, content (though never satisfied) until we “take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of [us]” (Philippians 3:12).

…Don’t dwell on present failings, or on the dead past. Every day has its mishaps and memories of something we should have done or not done. “Never look back” must be our motto. Press on! Though in-process…we are freely loves, fully forgiven and on our way to glory. Sin may frustrate us for a day, but God’s favour goes on forever and on ahead lies perfection. Someday soon we shall see God face to face and we shall be like Him – “holy as the Holy One.””