By Not Known
Change is inevitable if we are growing. Growth involves change. Though many
of us do not like change, it does not mean that we do not want to grow. Yet,
we cannot desire one and not welcome the other. The key is to manage change
as we grow.
When we are drawn closer to the Lord and growing in our relationship with Him,
we will experience change in our lives. In fact, that is God’s supreme goal for
us. God created us to be like him, in his image. When we rebelled against God
and strike out on our own we shattered that image.
Christ’s redemptive act of dying on the cross for our sins and his resurrection
restored and reverted what we did wrong. In essence, that act became the
starting point of the arduous process of change.
This process is sometimes known as spiritual formation. Dallas Willard said,
“Spiritual formation in Christ is oriented toward explicit obedience to Christ.”
In other words, following and obeying Christ’s commands in his word (John
14:21) lead us to change. The more we obey, the more we will change. The
word used by Paul is the word ‘transform’ or ‘metamorphosis’. The word came
from the Latin word for morph or change.
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Spiritual change begins when we commit our lives to God in spiritual rebirth
(born again). Then it continues as Paul tells us in Romans 8:28-29 and
Ephesians 4:13-14 that we have to become or evolve or change towards full
maturity in Christ.
Within this entire process of change, we need to constantly and completely
surrender to God allowing Christ to live his life though us in the Spirit.
Additionally, Paul says that we need to put effort into it by having the right
attitudes to change: humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance (Ephesians
4: 1- 2). Let’s examine our lives and see if such changes in attitudes are
happening in our lives. Is the way we talk and live being changed gradually to
become more and more Christ-like? Are people around us able to detect that
change and see the evidence of Christ-likeness in the way we live?
Another evidence of this change is when we are able to be involved in the
process of spiritual reproduction – becoming fruitful and multiply, spiritually
speaking. Spiritual maturity is not only when others see Christ in us but also
when we are able to assist in spiritual rebirth in others.