Posts Tagged ‘ change ’

A New Year

January 2, 2010
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Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Matthew 3:8

Welcome to the New Year.  I had just gotten used to writing 2009 and she is gone.  2010 is like a new page in the book of our life. We begin a new year with the page blank and we begin to write our life for 2010.

God is still in the life changing business. He awaits our decision to make this the best year of our lives.  He is not interested in any outward change and resolution that won’t last past the first temptation that comes our way.  He is interested in changing us into the image of Jesus.

Producing “fruit in keeping with repentance”, means that changes in our approach to the New Year are inward. The Pharisees and Sadducees came to John for baptism because they thought it was a popular thing to do.  John would have none of it.

“What do you think you are doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It’s your life that must change, not your skin.” (The Message)

It’s a good time of the year to examine ourselves and make inward changes that can make a difference in our personal lives, family lives and church lives.  What inward change would your need to make to write a good year on the 2010 page of your boo?

As a preacher for 50 years I have always encouraged us to be involved in the local family of God.  Belonging to a church reinforces our faith.  A Christian without a church is like a football player without a team. It’s like a Marine without a unit.  It’s like a family meal without a family.

Change isn’t easy

December 11, 2009
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Can Ethiopians change their skin  or  leopards their spots? Jeremiah 13:23

Change doesn’t come easy. Some have given in to the devilish idea that a person cannot change. What one is is destined and there is no power to change.

People in Jeremiah’s day felt the same way. We have little or no power to change the direction of our lives and we should just accept the way we are and make the best of it. What a defeatist attitude. Human beings become like a dog with instincts or a lemming that cannot help but rush into the nearest ocean and drown.

“Choose you this day whom you will serve” says Joshua to his people. He understood that men were created with the freedom to choose. What we choose, we are accountable for the choices we make. Accountability makes no sense when there is no choice.

We often complain of living powerless, of living by the expectations of others and being prevented by external circumstances from making real change. “Since I was a child I have felt” (You fill in the rest). I was born with Ethiopian skin and I cannot change. I have the spots of a leopard and I have no hope of change. Look again at the verse from Jeremiah. Can Ethiopians change their skin or leopards their spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil. (NRSV)

We are not passive victims of life. We do make choices. We do have the power to change the major directions of our lives. We struggle and we fight and we make better choices then the outcome will be better.

Making Change

January 12, 2009
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Patrol Jerusalem’s Streets. 
Look Around. Take Note.
Search the market squares.
See if you can find one man, one woman
A single soul who does is right.

Jeremiah 5:1

Jeremiah expresses the sentiment that many of us have in our day.  Can we find a man who is trustworthy?  Can we live above the frailties of our peers?  Are we able to be faithful in the midst of a people whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways? (Proverbs 2:15)

It might do us better to worry about what we can change.  It is not within our realm of possibility to effect change in others.  We can encourage it but we can’t change for another human being. 

Where can we effect change? In ourselves!  We can change who we are and how we act and think.  It is amazing to see the changes that some are able to bring about in their own lives.  Men have stopped lying, cheating, fornicating even terrorism.  God is in the people changing business and when we give ourselves to Him good things can happen.

If God is looking for a man, or woman, who does right, He can find one right there in our mirror.    He is not looking for a perfect man but one who really wants to live the godly life and works at it on a regular bases.

14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe (Philippians 2)

The year has just begun. Where will I be at the end of the year?  Will Jesus find faith on the earth when he returns?  For me and my house we will serve the Lord.

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