Be transformed

God is not really interested in just changing things around in our lives. Rearranging things doesn’t mean any real difference at all. God wants to continually change and transform our nature – not just what we do or how we do things.

He wants to work deep down. He wants to get to the heart of the struggles we face. He wants to challenge us to see ourselves as he sees us – as people who are always falling short of his expectations, who wrestle with things like pride and failure to work in harmony together with other Christians. He wants to cut to the very core of our character and expose us for what we really are.

But he doesn’t stop there. That’s not ever the end result of his working in us. He continues to work by declaring through Jesus: Your sins are forgiven. And with that forgiveness, we have a foundation on which to build our lives. We have what we need to be continually transformed, day by day, to become the people God wants us to be.

It mightn’t be spectacular. It may not always be in our timeframe. We may even resist God working in our lives at times. But he continues – sometimes in dramatic ways and perhaps more often than not, in small, quiet ways. He comes to influence us, grow us, shape us, and transform us continually into his image.

That’s his commitment to us. Because of Jesus’ claiming us as his own, we can be confident that even when we don’t see God doing the things we want him to – even when our prayers are not answered in the way we would like him to – we can still believe that he’s at work.

Loving Jesus, we praise and honor you for continuing to work in our lives, transforming us to become the people that you still want us to be more and more. Help us to be open to your Spirit moving within us. Give us the confidence to believe that you are with us, for us and in us at all times. Because of your presence and power, we can trust in your working for the good of your kingdom – thank you. Amen.

by Pastor Mark Lieschke