Our old self is the self of rebellion. The prophet levels the charge without apology, “We have turned – every one of us – to our own way.”
Change must come. God through Jesus would bring it.
The Spirit of God has a way of very often beckoning us nearer in toward himself. The closing pages of scripture supply us a touching image depicting this, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone would hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and have fellowship with him and he with me.”*
Jesus is a bonifide historical one-of-a-kind person. This brown-skinned itinerate messenger, his voice carrying a middle-eastern accent, brought the reality of God to earth in tangible form. He is relevant as ever.
Living out his righteous, unique, generous life among us, Jesus gave himself to all humanity as God’s offering, paying in his sacrificial dying the penalty for all our wrongs, our sins. His crucifixion death secured complete freedom from guilt as well as from judgment in the afterlife for those who trust their lives to him.
For the Jesus-follower this all marks the beginning point, because to know Jesus is to grow in Jesus. In bringing us to himself he has ushered us into a brand new kind of living. It is companionship-centered. Jesus has laid claim to our present and future. He “companions” us, as children of the heavenly father into growth toward and into his own likeness. Once again, the thing Jesus brings to us is change. Beautiful, essential, transformational change.
We don’t easily drift when remaining near enough Jesus to feel his breath. The word plateau is a foreign term to those entering God’s kingdom with the aim of keeping company with the kingdom’s king, to train or apprentice under him in the way of love. The journey ahead is not static but dynamic.
Jesus came to change us. Are we In?
While it’s true the change begins the minute we first turn and yield to him, Jesus sets out to transform us day by day, little by little. If transformation is to happen at all it will mostly come by centimeters not yards. The Serenity Prayer suggests an appealing pace,
“Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time”.
* Revelation 3:20 ESV
©2022 Jerry Lout
Good words, Jerry. Living one moment at a time, being transformed with the removal of all guilt. Amen.
Thank you, Rebecca. Hoping to better steward the shrinking number of ‘one moments’ lying ahead.