Transforming Power

The Son of God, Jesus Christ, died on the cross for our sins. It is because He paid the price for our sins that we can be accepted into heaven-even though we’re sinners- to live with our Father, God, in heaven.

The above summarization of the Gospel is all true, and a pretty common synopsis that we hear. It’s the heart of the message of why Christians die as martyrs and why the Bible is the best-selling book of all time.

But there is a HUGE part that we many times miss…

The transforming power that happens in our heart!

Over the last couple of weeks my heart has been overjoyed with the reality of how much my life has changed since i’ve accepted Christ and in the same breath burdened with the reality of how much more i have to grow. Chasing after the cross is this continuum of growth.  As you grow more, you come to know Christ more, then you realize how deafening His holiness is compared to us.

When I first began to actively grow in a personal relationship with Christ verses such as:

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. ~Romans 12:2

Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. This world offers only lust for physical pleasure, lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions.  ~1 John 2:15-16

and even verses like:

Lord remind me how brief my time on earth will be, remind me that my days are numbered and that my life is fleeting away. ~Psalm 39:4

seemed nearly impossible for me to live.  All that i had known my entire life was to follow this world. Follow the trends of my friends, what i saw on t.v. and what my parents did. How was it possible for me to be different, if i didn’t even know what different was?

Traveling to state conventions over the last couple of weeks, i’ve had a lot of 1-on-1 time with people (my favorite!) Most people i talk with would consider themselves to be Christians, but here’s how these conversations go….

Me: So you do consider yourself a Christian? akjlkj;lkjklj   What’s that mean to you?

Friend: Well, i believe Jesus died on the cross i love Jesus    for my sins and i’m going to i love Jesus    i lov heaven.

Me: Cool! That’s awesome! Me too! How do you how Jesus is  see this amazing truth playing how Jesus is  out in your own life?

Friend: Um….i try to be a good person and…i he is my love  um…go to church. i’m even a he is my love      part of my youth group.

Problem: Christ didn’t die on the cross for us to simply be good people. He died so that we might become more like Him.

  i must admit that i’ve been in the position of the ‘friend’ before myself. And i’ve had the reality that my belief in Christ didn’t show up in my actions except on Wednesday night youth group and Sunday morning church.

How can God’s transforming power change our own hearts?

Over the next couple of months, i plan to dive into ways that Christ helps us to ruin our own plans (Check out Jeff Johnson’s song “Ruin Me”).  In pondering these questions i pray that God, Himself, will reveal the answers and that He’ll show us how our battle cry for life can be:

If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come!  ~2 Corinthians 5:17