Have heard again in the past weeks about a stack of guys, my age (mid-thirties) really experience some major change in their lives. Some forced, some voluntary. I know God is stirring and preparing a new Generation of Leaders. They are breaking out of the mould set upon them by culture and stepping into their destiny and identity in Christ to be fathers and a voice in their generation.
I’m becoming increasingly aware that many of us are noticeably different from those gone before us in Christendom. This disturbed me and made me question myself for quite a while. When I compared myself to those I looked up too and admired in family, church and community I saw I couldn’t walk in their shoes. I tried copying them, but to use a biblical metaphor, their armour doesn’t fit. Now I realise this difference is a good thing. The Kingdom of God must go from strength to strength, glory to glory. There is new ground to take, a new platform to stand on and a world that desperately needs to know the love of God in action!
If we don’t make holistic God-led change part of our life program we sit in maintenance mode and become ineffective for the Kingdom of God. Jesus’s first sermon launched with the concept of repentance, or ‘metanoia’ in the Greek. In other words ‘CHANGE’.
If you always do what you’ve always done then you’ll always get what you’ve always got. If you don’t like what life is serving you then you must engage change. I would contest that genuine change comes from the INSIDE OUT. It’s starts in your spirit and moves it’s way out. And it must! God is not into behaviour management or fixing you. He wants us slain and resurrected with Christ.
I believe a life committed to change, repentance and the cross is a life of honest transformation.
Conversion to Christianity is one thing and it’s easy being ‘saved’ at church or a Christian meeting. But what about the other days and hours? Are you saved at work? Behind the wheel? In your relationships?
I have to agree with 1 Corin 1:18 where Paul says we are BEING saved. A continuous tense. A journey and pilgrimage.
Let’s get beyond conversion and into transformation. Put change into your life. Allow God-led change to transform and rebuild you. Don’t settle for how you are today. This generation needs honest, open, anointed and loving believers. It’s not enough to pretend or just copy. It must come from the heart and only God truly knows your heart and has the power to transform it.
Repentance as a lifestyle is a choice that begins with desire.
You either desire a deeper, more fulfilling relationship with God or you don’t.
Desire is like the currency of relationships. Those you desire to be with, you will pursue. I’ve heard people call desire ‘the currency of heaven’ (Ps 146.15 & Mk 11:24). You pursue your Heavenly Father with everything and you don’t stop….ever. Then, like any serious relationship, you will make adjustments and engage change to stay in that relationship – and it’s not a chore. It’s a joy. Because the rewards are everlasting and out of this world.