Changing the Dog
From Pastor Tim’s article in the 1/27/16 Weekly Update
Last week I wrote about the shenanigans of our beloved Journey and the fact that we have learned to block her troublesome behavior because we possess little hope that she will ever behave differently than she does at the present time.
She gets into any food item left on the table, drinks from the toilet when given the chance and generally creates problems when not blocked from doing so.
My closing observation was that many times followers of Jesus essentially live out their lives in the same way; blocking their sin patterns without ever truly being changed by the power of God.
It’s the boldest of claims by the disciples of Jesus and yet it has the potential to break down barriers between the lost and the found person. It is the evidence of changed character that marks a person as having been with Jesus.
God’s Son did not arrive on planet Earth so that we could exist by blocking our innate desires to sin. Rather, He came to change those desires at a fundamental level so that we could, by His power, possess the ability to choose not to sin.
Paul describes this in Romans when he claims that, through Holy Spirit, we are no longer to be slaves to sin. Peter underscores the idea when he speaks of Christ changing us at the level of our desires.
It is both the joy and sorrow of the contemporary believer to realize that we have the means to not react to our natural tendencies toward rebellion against God. The joy comes from the potential to live a life of holiness, the sorrow from an understanding that our excuses (the devil made me do it, I couldn’t help myself, etc.) no longer hold water.
The transformation that Paul wrote about in Romans 12 is the simple act of sanctification that Holy Spirit changes me, not on the outside first, but on the inside.
My angry attitude can be changed to love. My fear can be changed to peace; my selfishness to unselfishness. I can become more focused on serving and less on being served. This will only happen by the grace of God and the power of His Spirit changing mine. By faith I can claim this promise to transform my very nature to become Christlike in all my ways.
Alas, Journey is a dog and will always do what comes naturally to her canine ways. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and as such, should anticipate His Spirit at work to change mine.
