January is a time for New Year’s resolutions for most folks! And most resolutions are wonderful ideas!… we want to improve our health, our relationships, our attitudes, and generally live a more abundant, peaceful, and meaningful life in the new year!
The problem is, most of us don’t carry through on our resolution intentions for very long! A local gym in Fenton near us was remodeled in December and re-opened in January, and the parking lot has been pretty full every day since January 1st! I can almost guarantee that in 3 months the lot will be only about half full. Why? Because most of us don’t have the will-power, endurance, and commitment to make life-altering decisions and actually live them out! We get tired, we find our feelings of wanting to change dissipate, and we rationalize why it’s OK to fall back into our old ways! For most us, we have good intentions, but lousy results!
SO, HOW CAN WE CHANGE FOR THE BETTER IN ALL AREAS OF LIFE?
CAN GOD ACTUALLY HELP US TO CHANGE FOR THE BETTER?
DID YOU REALIZE THAT IF YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN, A FOLLOWER OF JESUS, THAT HE CAME TO GIVE YOU A BRAND NEW LIFE, A NEW LIFESTYLE THAT YOU WILL GROW INTO FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?
This will be a life-long, ongoing change process that can change your health, your attitude, your perspective, and enable you to live as a new creation under the power of God! Rather than self-improvement schemes and resolutions that don’t last, God wants to change you from the inside-out and give you an ever-increasing abundant, joyful, and purposeful life, now and into eternity!
When Jesus began his ministry, he said “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near”. (Matthew 4:17)
Understanding this statement of Jesus is KEY to a new life and future! Let’s look at both aspects here: repentance, and what the Kingdom of Heaven is.
1) REPENT! CHANGE YOUR MIND!!
Most people think repent means to feel shameful about your thoughts and evil actions and then desire to stop doing them and “change your ways” and get your act together!
But the Greek word for repentance literally means to “change your mind”!
Jesus is saying that when we open ourselves up to allowing God to “change our mind” daily and consistently, we will begin to see ourselves, this world, and our place in it from his perspective.
It’s true that we are to repent from sin, but we need to understand that sin is every thought and action in our life that keeps us away from the ideal and perfect life that God planned for us when he created humanity! We weren’t created to live in this present sinful, evil existence with death, disease, war, and hatred! We were created to live with God, in his presence, and share an amazing, abundant life that will last forever. So repentance is not a negative thing; it is opening the door to God’s leading, healing, and restoration that our rebellion once blocked!
Back to our new year’s resolutions…
Any self-improvement plan, as good as it may be, is based on YOUR agenda for what’s best for you, and YOUR best idea of how to get there!
So, what’s the problem? The battle for change is won or lost in our MINDS! Renewal takes place in your thoughts and your attitudes—in other words, in your mind. You may FEEL tired or disgusted with many things about your life, but short-term actions alone won’t lead to lasting change. We tend to act because of specific feelings we may have, but if those feelings arise from negative or untrue thoughts, the actions we take will not lead to healthy, healing and purposeful lives in the long run!
So, from God’s perspective, we all have 2 choices:
– Choice # 1: Plan your own life, do your own self-improvement schemes, educate yourself better, listen to the latest fads and lifestyle gurus, and “do the best you can with what you’ve got”. Now it’s true that many people do this and do get better at life in some ways. But we need to understand that as long as we are in charge of our lives, “master of our own fate”, God will leave us alone and let us do our best, but will not help us in this endeavor! Jesus didn’t come to help us live a “little bit less sinful lifestyle”, he came to transform us into new creatures who will live with him in his new Kingdom forever! Jesus came to save us from the power and deadly effects of sin, not just help us do a little “lifestyle makeover” that makes our present sinful world seem a little more palatable.
-Choice #2: Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he came to save you from sin, and trust your life to him every day and in every way! This means stop trying to plan your own life, and ask God daily to work in every aspect of your life to become more like Jesus and be able to recognize him working in your life! Again, none of us do this perfectly all the time, but it is an ongoing process of allowing God’s Spirit to help you let go of your old life patterns and thoughts and slowly take on the new lifestyle that Jesus has for you!
Let’s look at some verse showing how God helps us change our mind and perspective!
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. – Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV)
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:2 (NIV)
5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. – Romans 8:5-9 (NIV)
What these verses tell us is that when God’s Spirit lives in his believers, he empowers us to change our thoughts and attitudes and see God’s perspective and the ways he wants us to live! God’s thoughts are different than the fallen world’s ideas, and when we understand how to live by the direction of God’s Spirit, we think, feel, and act in harmony with what God wants for us and the world!
Now this is a life-long, ongoing process of change for us, but it begins when you trust your life to Jesus! The more you allow him to change your mind daily and empower you to live the new pattern of life he desire for you, the better your life will be. The beneficial spiritual, mental, and emotional results of this new life are called the “Fruit of the Spirit”, and are listed in Galatians 5:22-23:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
Who wouldn’t want their life to be full of these thoughts and character traits!
2) The Kingdom of Heaven is near!
When you trust Jesus, not only does he change you from the inside-out by daily renewing your mind and transforming your life, but you become part of a new race of his people who will dwell with him forever in his Kingdom!
This Kingdom is partial now as we live in this fallen world momentarily. But as God empowers us and transforms us through this life, we all become new creations of God and look forward to Jesus’ future reign as he returns to earth, destroys all evil, and sets up a new sinless Kingdom which will last forever! No matter what our circumstances in life may be, we have a sure and unbreakable hope in the future and come to realize we are new people, redeemed to bring glory to God!
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. – 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)
I will continue to blog throughout the year and explain what being a Kingdom man or woman involves and how God helps us put off the old life and take on his new life in the Spirit.
But I close with a question for each of you as you begin the new year:
How do you choose to improve and make your life better this year?
If you choose to stick with resolutions and self-help books and advice from lifestyle “experts”, I do hope your life gets a little better and you have a good year!
But, I challenge you to do think about something that is dramatically different than the world’s latest fads and improvement gimmicks, and decide to trust your life to Jesus and allow him to forgive you and transform you into a new creation!
What Jesus can offer you is so much better than the world offers you, and it is literally the difference between light and darkness!
I don’t just wish you the customary “Happy New Year!”
Rather, I wish you a year of rebirth, a year of trusting each day and thought to Jesus, and experiencing all that he has in store for you if you will only let him love you and lead you into becoming his new creation!
I leave you with a great prayer from Ephesians that captures the great hope we have in Jesus:
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. – Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV)