Making Change

Micah 6:6

What can we bring to the LORD

to make up for what we have done?  (NLT)

     Although this is a great question, I believe the greater question is this: what can we bring to the LORD for what “He has done”?  I believe we can answer both of these questions much in the same way, with the latter question being a bit more pressing for us now that we are living towards the end of the church age. What our Lord God and Savior has done, He did for every living person in the world.  The Lord became our sin and has given us the glorious, undeserved gift of eternal life.  This once in a lifetime gift is wrapped in forgiveness, bound in the ribbon of protection and secured with the bow of salvation. This glorious gift is one that is easy enough to accept, but not so easily secured, because what the LORD really wants from us is our undying love, selfless commitment, and total submission—qualities that are really foreign to us in our current fallen state. 

    The LORD calls us to sacrifice our old life of sin—out with the old and in with the new; cleansed by the blood of Jesus and resurrected a new creation.  It looks easy on paper, but it takes the Power of God to pull off, because our sinful nature is too deeply rooted for us to fight on our own.  There are always enjoyable sins that are so hard to let go of that we often hang on to them as long as possible, trying to justify their power over us.  Change is never easy and it always requires sacrifices we don't necessarily like, but are needed if we are to live in God's Light.  We owe God for sacrificing His life for us, but He won't force you to accept His sacrifice.  But when you do, He will help you make the change from loving sin to loving Him. Without Jesus' death there would be no forgiveness and no eternal life.   We would never know who the One who created us is, nor would we have His joy and promise to get us through this difficult life and to the other side.

                             A Whisper of Hope 

Dying to self is a sacrifice, My child...one that only I can help you with.  The power that sin holds over you is powerful, but its power has been broken by Me.  I not only defeated its power but I defeat its sing as well.  And I can do the same for you.

Romans 12:1-2

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies

to God.  Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind He will accept.

When you think of what He has done for you, is this too much to ask? 

Don't copy the behavior and customs of this word, but let God transform

you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will know

what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and

perfect His will really is.  (NLT)

    You must display a new nature because you are 

         a new person, created in God's likeness—

                    righteous, holy, and true. 

                            (Ephesians 4:24)