September 2008

09.08.2008

ne Parson’s Opinion
by Danny Rogers, Minister of Education


Straight up Change! I’m not talking about money; I’m talking about God changing you and me into the people He wants us to be. The “Christianese” word for this is sanctification. After you place your faith in Jesus Christ, God goes to work sanctifying you, or changing you. All of us need reminding that this is God’s will for us. Read I Thessalonians 4:3: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification…” It is at the heart of God that He desires for each of us to change from who we were and what we did into who He wants us to be, doing what He desires.

It has been said you should have three people whom you want to talk straight with you: 1. Your doctor – you want an honest report from your doctor—no beating around the bush for results and treatments. 2. Your auto mechanic – we want an honest mechanic who will tell us just how much it will cost to repair our cars. 3. Your Pastor (pastoral staff) – your spiritual health should be a top priority in your life, so that you become what God desires of you. This is what I’m writing about – change.

The whole idea of change can become confusing, because there are so many churches and messages telling us that it’s okay to overlook certain aspects of ourselves or our actions. In an age of tolerance, we are bombarded with the message of overlooking and/or tolerating sin. Ask yourself Christian, does God really want me to overlook the “little” sins in my life? You know as well as I that the answer is “No!” Would you expect your doctor to tell you, “Don’t worry, it’s only a ‘little’ cancer”? Of course not.

The first step to seeing real sanctification, real change in yourself, is to recognize sin in your life. Loved ones, if we are not willing to face our own sins in the mirror, then we won’t change. God is ready, willing and able to do His part—the actual changing—but you have to do your part as well. My first step is to recognize what displeases God and your first step is to recognize what displeases God. Face up to it, call it what it is, don’t soften it and admit it to God, then confess it to a confidant. Yes, I have scripture to back that up. James 5:16 says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.” Confessing to a confidant is a key step because that person will help you with the next step.

The second step to true change is to repent. Okay, I have this sin – God you’re right, I’m a sinner. I’ve told my friend who will pray for me and help me by asking how God is changing me.

“Repent” means to go the other way; to stop doing what I’ve always done (sin) and go the other way. When I feel like giving into that sin, I call my friend, because the Holy Spirit is telling me to, who then talks me out of sinning by reminding me that I’m a new creature in Christ and sin has no more power over me. God is now changing you (doing His part), because you are following His Word (doing your part).

This is straight talk about change – this is it. If you feel that there has always been one particular sin you cannot overcome (“it’s just the way I am”), I’m here to tell you that you are wrong, because God says you are a new creature in Christ and that you’re dead to sin; sin has no power over you. If you cannot beat that one “little sin,” it’s because you have not done one or both of these steps. If you want to see real change in your life, now is the time to take the hard, but obedient steps with God and let Him change you.

Until next month,
Danny Joe

Posted by arbc at 09:40 AM