We must make a decision if we are to hear from the Lord Jesus Christ. That decision is whether we are going to walk superficially, continually focused on how good we want to be, or on the Greatness of Christ, fixated on what He did on the cross and can do within us now.
Far too many believers are making it their aim to follow as many of God’s rules as possible, hoping to please God with their fleshly and futile attempts at holiness.
When we realize that God wants us to fix our gaze on Him, allowing Him to work mightily in our hearts, that He might get the glory for who we have become, only then will Christ change our souls, something only He can change.
The flesh cannot change the spiritual.
When we feverishly work at “being good”, we are operating in the flesh. However, when we worship God in all His glory, knowing that if He does not do the work in us, the work is vanity, only then can we see permanent and lifelong transformation. After all, it is only Christ Who can transform. We can only modify superficially our attitudes and behavior, but Christ can extract completely from our being that which does not honor Him.
We cannot control those around us and their response to our dedication to the Lord, but God makes us strong in spite of the attitudes of rejection that we encounter.
Please remember that we need to stop attempting to figure out how to refute the ungodly or the superficial believer. Our aim to become Christ-like. The only way that our spirits can become truly one with that of Christ, Who lives in us, is to relinquish all our own will to His. Christ must work in us His way, to be truly Christ-like. We cannot do it for ourselves, but submitting to Him moment by moment will produce a greater dependency on His Holy Spirit. This will mean that we are speaking to Him and listening for His answers frequently.
John 16:13 “"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”
Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
I am noticing that God does not say we are transformed by the renewing of our flesh, good deeds or attitudes, but by the renewing of our mind. Man can change their outward deeds and modify their attitudes but if their mind is merely playing a game without being transformed by God, then it is an exercise in futility to appear good, when the heart and mind are not good. God is going for the heart transformation first. Striving after superficial fleshly goodness gains nothing except an attitude of pride. When God transforms our hearts, we know it was Him and He gets the glory.
I once heard it said that all we have to do to become a better person is to “deliberately work to change a behavior and the new behavior will become habit.” Sadly, this too is fleshly, since changing from one habit to another does not make us Christ-like. Christ wants to be the one who changes our heart, when we try to change our own actions and attitudes, He will let us, then we will see the uselessness of our struggle.
2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
Galatians 2:20 “20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and [a]the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
1 John 4:19 “19 We love, because He first loved us.”
Romans 12:9 “9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”
Philippians 4:6-7 “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all [a]comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
James 1:22 “22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”
Galatians 5:22-23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
One could take these scriptures and think they have to try to do all this in their own power, the truth is that we cannot do these things in our own power, we must ask the Lord to do them in us.
Ephesians 2:10 “10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
The day we stop attempting to effect our own transformation is the day God will begin the work in us. Our prayer ought to reflect that we know how impotent we are in our transformation, and that we desire for the Lord to change us. God will only change us if we want Him to do so.
James 1:5 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
God will never deny a heart that seeks after Him, the wisdom and strength to obey that wisdom comes to a submitted heart.
