“You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. . . . But that is not the way you learned Christ!” Ephesians 4:17, 20
Are you sensing the need for some change in your life? Some people sense the need for change but somehow convince themselves that they are alright and no change is necessary, “Nobody’s perfect” is their attitude. Others simply shut down, frustrated by the apparent impossibility of change. I guess the real question to answer is, do you believe that God changes people?
For the most part we believe in an all powerful God and say, “Nothing is impossible with God.” I mean in principle it’s easy to say that God can change anyone, but when it comes to people we are close to that’s kind of a risky thing to say. However, I know from personal experience that God can change people in your family and in your church. If you’ve ever run across someone that you haven’t seen in a while and they seem totally different, I’m talking about for the better – that’s the power of God changing them.
We know that God is in the life transformation business, but as we tighten the focus here we must look in the mirror and answer the question, “Is God changing me?” Do you still struggle with the same habits or character issues or are you seeing victory over them? Is your life any different than it was 2 or 5 or 10 years ago or is just an instant replay stuck in a loop? Only by the power of God at work in our lives can we say, “That used to be a problem for me, but it’s not anymore. Praise God! He’s changing me!”
In order to shake ourselves from the self-delusion that we’re okay and nobody’s perfect, then we need to listen in on what the apostle Paul said to the Ephesian Christians as he challenged them to stop acting like those who are not in Christ. In our text he said, “You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do. . . . That is not the way you learned Christ!” Our life story should be that before we met Christ we were on a very dark road where we seemed to have no choice but to do sinful things, but now in Christ our lives aren’t like that anymore because we are walking a different road.
To get to this point we had to admit that we needed to change and then lay those areas out before the Lord in a very specific way saying, “And this is where I need to change.” The beautiful thing about being in Christ is the hunger He gives us for His Word and the desire to fellowship with Him in prayer, for these are the tools He uses to reveal to us where we need to change. Could you name something specific today the Lord is revealing to you that needs to change?
To just kind of skirt past the question, “Where has the Lord been revealing to me I need to change” really says you’re not very serious about allowing Him to make you godlier. Becoming more Christ-like is not easy and it only happens as we take our sinful tendencies seriously and acknowledge that God needs to have His way in our lives. Only when we come to this place in our journey of change yielding to the Holy Spirit can we make the right decisions at those forks in the road where our old nature and inclinations want to take over. You can choose the right path and to act differently.
I personally am thankful for God’s longsuffering as he continues to point out the things that need to be different in my life. I’ve learned that the only way to experience His joy and fulfillment in life is to as it says in Ephesians 4:22-24, “put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life . . . and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Yes, change is possible and it’s good!
