Changed for the Better

Lord, I know I've been changed. . .

Negro spiritual

What do you think is going to happen when Christians start "walking" according to the change that the Lord has made in their lives? Will we see a difference in one another? Will our perspective on the world be altered? Will we have a new view on life?

I imagine that many Christians feel that they are in a sanctified slump at times. What I am getting at is that nagging feeling that you know the Lord but you just aren't growing closer to the Lord. It's not that you don't have the desire to get closer to Him. It's not like you have left your "first love." It's just that you don't feel that you are growing in your spiritual walk with the Lord. I've been there. I think, if most of us were truly honest about it, most of us have been there, too.

The problem is with us, not God. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow (Heb. 13:8). We need to change. We need to give up our worldly perspective for a kingdom perspective. We must go from our nature that was in the likeness of Adam to a new birth that alows us to be fashioned after Christ. It's that same put off the old man and put on the new man (Eph. 4:22). In essence, we must embrace being changed as part of the change. Otherwise, we find ourselves straddling the fence of acceptance and tolerance, still being led by our sinful nature and not fully submitting to our new nature in Christ. drop your old ways and determine to live in the newness of Christian joy.