Skip to main content

“What Are You Really Going To Change This Year?”

Ephesians 4:1-32

We are living in a time when one can join just about anything without having to change anything or make any serious commitments. My email is flooded daily with requests to join everything under the sun. The qualifications are usually stated something like this:

"Nothing down"
"No minimum purchases required"
"You can't be turned down"
"No payments until next year"
"You don't have to do anything now"
“Last chance to get in on the ground floor”

In other words, all you have to do to qualify is be living and breathing … oh, and have money! Let me assure you that in God's kingdom IT IS DIFFERENT, big changes are expected, and required! This is much different from a New Year’s Resolution, which many we never intend to keep. Check this out…

Here are the percentages of resolutions that people have promised to make for 2008. Now, if you are into making goals and wanting to set them there is a website just for you. It’s called mygoals.com and it helps you stay on track, but it also has trends for what people are going to make as goals for 2008. Here is the breakdown: 27% of resolutions involve health and fitness, which is down from last year. 15% involve personal growth and interests, 15% personal finance, 9% education and training, 6% time manage mentand organization, 5% recreation and leisure, 5% family and relationships.

So let’s go back to priorities for a second. We said, well, surely the answer should be God is #1, but notice that list again. Did you hear me mention any resolution concerning God? It’s not there. To find anything about spirituality you have to look in the personal growth section, and there you will see that in the personal growth and interests - the second most popular resolution - only 2% are interested in becoming more spiritual. By the way, improving one’s mind and attitude is at 27% and improving one’s appearance is at 22%, yet changing their spiritual makeup is only a dismal 2%.

Need further proof? The Barna Group which specializes in research about Christianity reported that only 1 out of 7 adults (15%) place their faith in God at the top of the priority list. You say, well, that’s not fair because some of those are non-Christians. Okay, the survey goes on and says that out of Christians, not quite 1 out of 4 (23%) place their faith in God at the top of the priority list. The majority of people are focused on the here and now and not on their relationship with God.

While true conversion only requires faith and confession to find a new life in Christ it requires a changed perspective and a changed behavior once we have come to Christ. We must "put off the old self" (EPH 4:22) and then "put on the new." (EPH 4:23) The biggest hindrance for unbelievers accepting authentic Christianity is not doctrinal or theological, it is often the lack of finding truly transformed believers whose lives give witness to the power of change the Holy Spirit makes in us. The name "Christian" should match the reality! What are you really going to change this year?

The first step in salvation is confession of sins and of Christ as Lord - but this is only the INITIAL step. After this first step comes conversion! Conversion means becoming something NEW - it is a process of becoming what we are in Christ, a NEW MAN or NEW WOMAN! It means "change" - from the old ways to the new ways, God's ways! How's the development of the "NEW" going in your life - is the change apparent to God, to you, to others? It MUST be! We are a new creation in Christ, so let the world see it! Again, what are you really going to change this New Year?

Have a blessed NEW YEAR, In Jesus’ Name… Amen!

By: Elder Michael L. Hargett
Copyright 2008 © MinTech, Inc.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Put All Your Trust In God!

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others. --Philippians 2:3-4 This past week, God blessed me to minister to my older sister in New Jersey. She called me because of a business deal that had not gone the way she had hoped. In short, a friend under cut the deal and gained the property in their own interest. For those who do not know my sister, she epitomizes this week's scripture. She is a wonderful person with a free and giving spirit. Over the years, I have and watched as she would give loans to family and friends many of these loans were never repaid. I can not recall one single instant where she has every asked for money back that she has given to me. She elected to stay in New Jersey to be close to our Mother, while the rest of us moved on and out of Newark, N.J. and til this day, I have never heard her complain or voice an...
Post a Comment
Read more

CHRISTMAS, A TIME OF GIVING!

May Jesus, the One who came for us, be the One who brings you and yours the joys of His incredible love! Jesus was given to us as the perfect gift! Merry CHRISTMAS! Isaiah 9:6 “ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. ” “Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others.” Barbara Bush Let us pray… FATHER WE THANK YOU FOR THAT PORTION OF THE SCRIPTURES WHICH REVEALS TO US YOUR WILL AND YOUR WAY FOR OUR GOOD AND HAPPY LIFE ON EARTH. WE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS, WHICH WAS YOUR PERFECT GIFT TO US, AND TO THIS DAY YOU CONTINUE TO GIVE US GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT; THAT WE MAY UNDERSTAND MORE ABOUT YOUR WORD AND HOW WE CAN FOLLOW YOUR TEACHINGS IN THIS MODERN WORLD. GOD HELP TO KEEP OUR HEARTS AND OUR MINDS AND OUR EYES FIXED FIRMLY ON YOU. SO, THAT IT MAY L...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Grace is Sufficient

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surprisingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. We can't deny that there is suffering and tragedy in the world, suffering that is so often incomprehensible to us. We can look on a global scale, and see children being slaughtered for no good reason--or for any reason at all. In Iraq thousands of innocent people are being terrorized and tormented in the name of Islam. We can look on a national scale, and see friends and relatives of the victims of hurricane Katrina still trying to put their lives back together. And, most importantly, we can look on a PERSONAL level, and see our own...
Post a Comment
Read more