A STAR Moment to reflect upon “How People Change.”
Rom. 6:8-14
It is so easy to coast! We have been accepted into Gods family, and someday will be with him in eternity. But what goes on in between? From the time we come to Christ until the time we go to be with Him, God calls us to change. We have been changed by his grace, are being changed by his grace, and will be changed by his grace.
What is the goal of this change? It is more than a better marriage, well-adjusted children, professional success, or freedom from a few nagging sins. God’s goal is that we would actually become like him. He doesn’t just want you to escape the fires of hell – though we praise God that through Christ you can! His goal is to free us from our slavery to sin, our bondage to self, and our functional idolatry, so that we actually take on his character! Peter summarizes the change this way: “Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:4). – How People Change – Lane & Tripp
COMMENT: Things to notice in the above like: We have been changed by his grace, are being changed by his grace, and will be changed by his grace. Also, the goal: is to free us from our slavery to sin, our bondage to self, and our functional idolatry, so that we actually take on his character. We’ve been studying the principle of “reckoning” in the mix with spiritual growth principles that must be understood and applied in our everyday experience. Again from above we possess: precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world.
THERE are many ways that this is affected in the means of grace. But hear now a very practical word of instruction and encouragement from JR Miller on this point, helpful to us day by day in what he calls “growing souls.” To this I would add the scripture reference, Romans 8:29.
There are many people who think their greatest obstacle in the way of spiritual growth and transformed character–is in the drudgeries to which they are indentured by their condition. They imagine that if they could be freed from these and could have leisure for reading, for study, and for fellowship–then they would grow into far more radiant beauty of character.
But this is a mistaken impression. The only one perfect life the world has ever known, was not spent with a book–but with a hammer and a saw! The school of common taskwork, with its perpetual round of dreary duties–is the best place in the world in which to attain noble spiritual culture. There is no other way in which one’s life will be so surely, so quickly transfigured–as in the faithful, cheerful doing of every-day tasks.
We need to remember that this world is not so much a place for doing things–as for developing character. Household life is not primarily a sphere for good cooking, tidy keeping of rooms, thorough sweeping and dusting, careful nursing and training of children, hospitable entertainment of friends, and the thousand things that must be done each day; it is a sphere for transforming women’s souls into radiant beauty.
The shop, the mill, the factory, the store, the office, the farm–are not primarily places for making machines, selling goods, weaving cloths, building engines, and growing crops; they are, first of all, places for making men, building character, growing souls.
Right in the midst of what some people call drudgery–is the very best place to get the transformed, transfigured life! The doing of common tasks patiently, promptly, faithfully, cheerfully–makes the character beautiful and bright!
