Change

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Thursday, May 24, 2018

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.  The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.  So God did what the law could not do.  He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have.  And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.  He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.  Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.  So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.  But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.  For the sinful nature is always hostile to God.  It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.  That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.  Romans 8:1-8^(NLT)

There’s a remarkable difference between a worm and a butterfly.  While worms are climbers and dirt-dwellers, once they are transformed by the process of metamorphosis, they become creatures of the sky.  Once endlessly chewing-up the creation, eating leaf, dirt and weeds, now they dine on the sweetness produced by flowers.  And, in flitting from flower to flower they also help the creation with cross-pollination; worms change from irritating pests to vital partners in the process of sustaining life.

Paul’s point in his letter to the Roman Church is tied to this picture; if ugly, dust-crawling leaf and limb-destroying worms can undergo a transformation to become an asset to the beauty and life of creation, so can we humans.

The apostle draws the distinction between the weakness of our human nature and the strength of God’s Spirit.  Now this is counter to anything you’ll hear in the pop culture of 2018, but counter-cultural is what being a Christian is all about.  In the mainstream of humanism you’ll hear that humanity is everything; if we follow our “heart” we’ll do well, and always make the benevolent and right decision.  Paul says that’s a lie!  That’s because the human heart is rebellious to God and, at base, is darker than the deepest part of the night.  Making the right decisions for life depends upon the guidance provided by the Spirit, Who changes us from creatures of darkness to living in the light. 

Mosie Lister composed many songs that point us to the light of change from wanting to live in the dark, to being creatures of the light.  The title just about says it all:

I’ve Been Changed

Tho' my sins were a scarlet, they're white as snow
I was bound, but today I am free
I was lost in the darkness, but now am found
I was blind, but now I see.

I've been changed, I've been "newborn"
All my life has been rearranged
What a difference it made
When the Lord came and stayed
in my Heart! O yes, I've been changed [2]

For You Today

Even in our darkness we can see the difference light makes.  And seeing the difference always sets up a choice between the darkness and light. 

So…ground crawling, leaf-chewing creature of the darkness, always taking, always leaving a path of destruction and decay…or spreading the life God intended, soaring with the unmatched beauty of life in the Spirit?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy Pixabay.com

[2] Mosie Lister, I’ve Been Changed, 1959, via Name that Hymn