Galatians 6:15 NLT
It doesn’t matter whether we have been
circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.
Labels are everywhere. It is kind
of like brands. Some are fluffy while
others are crisp. Some are brand names
while others are generic. I am speaking
of items we might find in a store, but many people feel the same about church and
Christians.
We denominations or gifts to label people that say one thing or act a
certain way, yet what God tells us is that the best part of this life is being
changed by His grace. He is still
changing me. He is working to bring
glory to Himself through the purpose He has placed in me and in His church.
There are some verses of old songs and other writings that ring in my
heart. They are profound, many of them
are old, all are real and each can be applied to my life and to yours. God is in the business of changing us,
transforming us and making us new.
Our connection to God is valuable, and He is to be worshipped:
Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all
nature, O thou of God and man the Son, Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown.
(first verse
of the hymn Fairest Lord, Jesus)
Victory is a gift from God. It
can be sought from many places, but eternal victory comes from God alone:
I heard about His healing, Of His cleansing pow'r revealing. How He made the
lame to walk again And caused the blind to
see; And then I cried, "Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit," And somehow Jesus came and bro't To me the victory.
(second verse of the hymn Victory in Jesus)
Seeing God as our hiding place, as our warrior and as our leader is a
big deal. Applying this truth changes
the way we see ourselves and the way we see the world:
A mighty
fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper he amid the flood of
mortal ills prevaling. For still our
ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, and armed
with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal.
(first verse of the hymn A Mighty
Fortress Is Our God)
“If you have felt hopeless, hold on!
Wonderful changes are going to happen in your life as you begin to live it on
purpose.” ― Rick Warren,
The Purpose
Driven Life
The testimony of works is louder and
clearer than that of words; and the frame of men’s hearts must be measured
rather by what they do then by what they say. – Steve Charnock, The
Existence and Attributes of God
The place we start and end must be God.
People speak all the time of vision, yet without a connection to God and
His vision, we are empty vessels. May
God fill us with his vision:
Be Thou my Vision, O
Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best Thought, by day or by night, Waking
or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
(verse one of the hymn Be Thou My Vision)
Some have said that our time on earth is but a dress rehearsal for
heaven. I am not sure of that, but what
I am sure of is that heaven will be a place filled with worship. Worship is something we must do here and
daily:
When Christ shall come
with shout of acclamation And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration, And
there proclaim, “My God, how great thou art!”
Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to thee: How great thou
art! How great thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou
art!
(fourth verse and chorus of the hymn How
Great Thou Art)
For years I have read about and from the people who long for the work of
God in transforming their lives. Not
only have I read it, but it has become a cry of my heart. He is changing me. The more He changes me the more my life seems
to count for Him. That makes a lot of
sense to me. These profound, old, real
statements have to be applied to my life.
He is making us new!
This means that anyone who belongs to
Christ has become a new person.
The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
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