PASTOR AYODEJI AROJO
People often want the things around them to change without changing themselves. Christianity is all about changing steadily until we become like Jesus Christ. The power to change is not in man, it is by the energy of God. Even, the complete essence of the gospel is for us to change.
Change is a process targeted towards growth. Sudden changes are suspicious. We need a whole lot of patience in the process of change. Most people detest change because it doesn’t come so easily. Changing is even more difficult than making a decision to believe. Changing is simply referring to us being conformed to the image of the Son.
[biblegateway passage=”PROVERBS 27:22 ” display=”PROVERBS 27:22 “]
It is an exercise in futility to try to make a fool wise. Trying to pound him in a mortar will not separate him from his folly. There are people that no matter the energy put in them to engineer a change, there is a resistance generated in them.
If we have access to so much wisdom from God, we must be aware that so much is required of us too. We must be willing to let go of our foolishness.
Many Israelites were rescued from Egypt by God’s miraculous power. However, a good number of them did not make it into the promised land. We can enjoy God’s miracle all we can, if we don’t align with His purposes, the demonstration of God’s power will be a waste in our lives.
It is very easy to see that others need to change while we overlook ourselves. Nevertheless, we must understand that change begins with us. Instantaneous and miraculous change are false and fake, because change is incremental and as a result of growth.
[biblegateway passage=”JOHN 5:5-39″ display=”JOHN 5:5-39″]; [biblegateway passage=”HEBREWS 12:13 ” display=”HEBREWS 12:13 “]
John 5:39
“Search the scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are they which testify of me.”
We cannot have eternal life apart from the word of God. It is in the scriptures that we have eternal life. Christianity is both a corporate and individual affair. The two dimensions are very crucial if we must be on fire for the Lord. If the Jews actually wanted eternal life, they were supposed to simply search the scriptures and this will point them to Christ.
Some sick people really don’t want to be healed, they would rather remain sick so that they can be objects of pity and sympathy. Jesus was fond of asking sick people if they wanted to be healed because some people really do not want healing.
Nobody can walk without first rising. The man at the pool of Bethesda was used to being lame so much that he would almost not get healed. However, Jesus instructed to rise, take up his bed and walk. He had to take up his bed so that he wouldn’t be tempted to go back on it.
[biblegateway passage=”1 CORINTHIANS 3:18″ display=”1 CORINTHIANS 3:18″]; [biblegateway passage=”PSALM 27:4 ” display=”PSALM 27:4 “]
We must drop the habit of posing like we have all the answers to every life situation. There are many things that we behold each day that if we don’t understand what we are beholding, we won’t be able to walk in them. We need to always inquire of the Lord everyday. People know lot of scriptures but they are not walking in the light of those scriptures. Change involves denial of self, taking up the cross and follow Jesus. These are they that follow the lamb wherever he goes.
Thank God that we have the understanding that Jesus is the ultimate goal. But, we need to understand that being changed and transformed is the way to this goal. Many people are intoxicated about the promises of the Lord with their lives that they do not know that there is a process. If you refuse process, at the end we will realize that there would not be changed.
It is possible for us to look interested in the whole eternal plan of God, but in our daily living are we really interested. There is much more to corporate dealings or interactions with God, we need to get personal with God. Also, many times when people cry out for change they do not we really want it.
There are deep wounds that we cannot just afford to gloss over. We need surgery to get rid of such conditions though it may not be pleasant. Unless we make up our minds to endure the pains, we are really not ready for change. Repentance is not about being sober, it is about a change of mind.
When God’s word comes to us, they may be very beautiful but the process of arriving at those ends may be terrible. We need to brace up if we must fulfill God’s mandate for our lives.
When there are afflictions in our lives, we need to pray. Pathetically, praying is the last thing we really want to do. When you are desperate for a change, there will be a desperate search for solutions. That desperate search hastens the intervention of the Lord.
Our testimonies for eternity in the long run will be about how well we have changed into the image of Christ.