Articles
Need a Change?
Did you hear about the poor guy who repeatedly dialed his fiancé’s telephone number and got the following recording: “Sorry, I’m not available right now, but thank you for caring enough to call. I’m making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the beep. If I don’t return your call, you’re one of the changes.”
We all do it. Make changes, that is. We need (or want) a “change of scenery” or a “change of pace”. Chances are, changes such as those may be are purely elective on our part. For the Christian though, it’s a “change of heart” that ends up making the most effective differences in our lives. Changes in the way we feel, the way we think, the way we behave, sometimes even in the way we look and, yes, the company we keep are occasionally not only in order, but imperative.
In 1 st Corinthians, chapter 6, the apostle Paul addresses a group of people who’d made (and were still needing to make) some changes in their own lives.
First, he asked them this question. “…do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” (1 Corinthians 6:9a ESV)
He then presented to them a listing of lifestyles found below the bottom rung on the ladder of human decency.
“Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9b, 10 ESV)
Now there’s a foul lot that none of us would ever care to be associated with anytime or anywhere: And certainly not shoulder to shoulder with in a church pew.
You’ve heard of the proverbial “other shoe”? Paul dropped it quickly with v11. “And such were some of you.”
And then he then provided welcome relief with these words. “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11b ESV)
If you think about it, it takes someone who has experienced a far-reaching change in their own life to speak of such debauchery and depravity alongside forgiveness in the same sentence with the assurance shown here by Paul. Here was a man who knew full well of the reaching power of the Gospel and its ability to change men’s lives forever. Here was a man who understood exactly what the grace of God could accomplish. Here was also a man who had to “discipline his body” (1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV) lest the demons he’d conquered began to awake once more to threaten his ability to “press on toward the goal for the prize” (Philippians 3:14) he most wanted.
Believe me when I tell you there’ve been many times I’ve fallen beneath the often lofty moral and ethical standards that I’ve set for others. Having spoken and acted in so many ways unbefitting to the sacrifice made on my behalf has caused me at times to wonder if I could ever escape the influence of what I’ve habituated myself to be.
The bright side of this is that, along the way, I’ve learned not to demand of others that which I’ve not been able to accomplish in myself. I’ve come to realize that sometimes repentance and change comes with varying degrees of difficulty and that one is not likely to change what they don’t know needs to be changed. While an instant transformation from what we’ve been to what God would have us be is certainly desirable, in some instances it’s also a bit idealistic. A process of learning not only what’s right, but how to live rightly, and how to maintain that newly learned lifestyle has to be considered a part of the equation.
I’m not saying that we consider repentance—changing what God has said must be changed—in such a casual way that we border on making it optional because it’s not and the Bible never insinuates that as a possibility. I’m only suggesting that as we go about “reforming” others that we first temper our zeal with patience and never lose sight of our own need for God’s patience in our own lives. And it could be one of the most important “changes” you’ll ever make.
