1)
I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service.
2)
And
be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
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too often man feels that he was (before salvation) and is (after salvation)
"perfectly fine" in his original unredeemed state. This, of course,
translates into not being able to see a need to change. The fact of the matter
is that "change" is inevitable—particularly for a child of God. One
cannot come into the presence of God without being changed—for the better, if
one intends to make it to heaven and to one's damnation if he resists the
promptings of the Lord.
We
know from the Holy Scripture that our holy God can be worshipped only in Spirit
and in truth. Sadly, because few know what worship is, they will believe that
they are complying, but they have no truth. Unfortunately, once one leaves the
truth, he will become convinced that he can satisfy God with his own human mind
(i.e. by doing what seems "right" to him). Perhaps the greatest
tragedy of this entire scenario is that this philosophy makes change almost
impossible.
If
we examine scripture, we will have to see that it is almost impossible to
remain the same after salvation. The Word tells us that everyone "in
Christ" becomes a "new creature." After salvation, if you can still
readily and easily "recognize" yourself, something is wrong.
It
is the Lord Who is expecting change in us and since the requirements are His,
we will be unable to make things work "without" meeting them. Throughout
the Word, the idea of "perfection" is presented by the Lord.
Initially,
we are confronted with the fact that all sacrifices had to be perfect--in every
way. Of course, requirements were so stringent because every sacrifice was
representative of Jesus Christ, Who Himself, had to be perfect (i.e. flawless
in order to be a sacrifice).
More-and-more
Man is becoming convinced that it is not necessary to be like the Lord. This is
a lie straight from the pit and designed to make the people of God do
everything, but seek to please God. Too many would still rather believe that
all will automatically become saved when they die. This is to avoid change now
at this present time, when people often believe that they do what they do
because they have to.
There
is a most dangerous "Christian" catch-phrase popular today. Many cars
sport a sticker declaring "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven."
The danger in this first, is that this is not what
scripture says. Second, when one believes that he is not perfect after
salvation, neither required to be, he will continue to do ungodly things and
expect continual forgiveness.
You
see, salvation has its requirements and they are unbending. The Lord expects us
to meet them the moment we appropriate His power to ourselves. But, the devil
has deceived many of God's people into believing that this life is one of
"trial-and-error" and that this is acceptable. The problem is that
one can get nothing in salvation for "trying," for as long as we are
in this mode, we show that we are not accepting what God has already done.
In
these last days, the "shallowness" of Man appears to be at an
all-time high. Those who are "Christians" and those professing
themselves to be so have shown that they will do almost anything to get what
they desire, be it to pray, pay, fast or shout. But what he is resisting
more-and-more is change. What man appears to try to prove is what he can
"get" apart from obedience.
True,
today, people are working hard to change in this present age. However, the
motivation behind this most often seems to be to gain a "comfortable"
life from God. Erringly, many believe that there is a life to be had outside of
the spiritual.
The
Church has failed too many by paying "lip service" to that which they
are not willing to produce. Perhaps if there were any way to describe this
Church period, it would be "too many preachers, too few livers." You
know, it is easy to tell a man anything, but an entirely different prospect,
altogether, to live that thing before him.
The
only "job" given us upon salvation is to show Jesus Christ! Standing
up for anyone, particularly Jesus, is not natural to Man.
Therefore, he must undergo a change possible only through the Holy Ghost,
allowing him to step from the natural to the spiritual. You see, Man does not
possess, in himself, what it takes for him to change himself and make himself
better. It is impossible for man to change on his own.
Some
of the worst deception occurring is through the church world, which would have
us believe that change can occur through what we say, rather than what we do;
our actions.
That
which is required for individual change is nothing more nor less
than accepting what has already been declared to be true. Acceptance is
available to everyone, regardless of education or mentality. All that one needs
to exercise to believe God is an act of will.
Too
often, the excuse of "I don't know how to change" comes up when this
subject (change) is broached. This is spoken as if there is some magic pill,
potion or power that could be used to change one. The fact is that change is a
simple matter of acceptance of the Word of God and one "gains" in the
No
matter what the rest of the World is doing, the people of God must come to
accept that apart from change, we are lost. Complicating matters is that what
we will not give up cannot be changed. This really does seem to be all up to
us, doesn't it?
Within our willingness to change lies our prosperity, success and happiness in salvation. Since "God is looking for a change," just how pleasing (to Him) do we really think that it is possible for us to be if we are not willing to do this one thing?