You Can Change!

Today I made a mess of a perfect opportunity! Its like I was a runner in the 4x100 meter relay...Im was the last leg of the race...my team had set me up for an easy run home! But just as I go to grab the baton from runner number 3...I drop it...and the race is lost. Thats how I felt today...embarrassed that I had such a golden chance in front of me...but I really stuffed it up.

For the rest of the day...I felt like a fool...hopeless...that was it for me. I struggled to keep my mind on work until it was time to go home. I felt that bad...I even skipped gym (Yeah i know that says something about how I was feeling)!! But later in the evening, as I was cleaning up, I came across a message that spoke about Gods power to change us and it got me thinking...its not all over...tomorrow is a new day and new opportunity. I guess even more broadly, the past couple months have been a challenge, I have felt restricted and bound by the past.

But there is something really awesome about living our lives for Christ....no matter what our yesterday was, it does not define our tomorrow! Yesterday we may have sinned badly...we may have really messed up...but when we repent...when we stand before God and ask for His forgiveness with a sincere heart...we can step forward with courage knowing that we are no longer bound by our past mistakes.

Our God is a God of change...dynamic change! No matter what you were struggling with in the past, your future does not need to follow that path.

How often do we hear of instances where a son will make the same mistakes as the father, following in his footsteps. I for one can honestly say this has been something that has been something that I have thought about quite a bit in my life, not repeating the same mistakes that my father had made. But that is for another day. In the Bible, in 2 Kings 21 we read about Manasseh and Amon, father and son who were both kings of Judah and they both made serious mistakes during their reign. After Amon, his son Josiah reigned as King of Judah and he serves well. Here we see one instance where the mistakes were repeated (Manassh and Amon), but then you see another instance where the son didnt follow the father (Amon and Josiah).

This is not the norm though. In most circumstances you would have expected Josiah to have been just like his father and grandfather, a horrible man. But this is evidence of how when we give our lives completely over to Christ, when we allow God to take hold of our lives...we are changed completely...we are no longer bound by the mistakes of the past.

I guess you could sum up the way that God changes us in three points:

God gives us a new DNA
We need to decide to change our spiritual DNA and follow our heavenly father. We no longer follow the ways of this world, but rather we spend our time in the presence of our Lord and feed on His word daily. When we are born again we have the spirit of God dwelling within us. If we have the spirit of God living within us, we also will have the strength of God as we have a new Father. In Romans 8:14-16 we read about this and what its like to live through the Spirit -

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship, And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

The awesome news is...by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are free!

God gives us a new road map to get through life
Josiah in 2 Kings directed his people back to God and the people of the land began to prosper. This was because he was a man of God, he listened to God and lived a life pleasing to our Lord. Ultimately this is vital to us today, that we allow God to be the light in our lives, as we hear in Psalm 119:104-105 -

I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

The reality is in our lives we need a light to guide us.

God surrounds us with a new famil
When we give our life to Christ, we are now part of God family and that means we have a new spiritual family. When we are in church, we are surround by those who are committed and love our amazing God. This is spoken about in 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 -

so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

 As a spiritual family, we need to be there for one another, just as we are for one another in our Earthly families.

So the really encouraging point is, despite all the we have been through, all the hurdles we have stumbled over, no matter how bad our past appears to be...we have a hope in God. For our Lord has the power to change us...to break the chain of sin...and give us the fresh opportunity as we move forward!