The gospel changes everything.
Whether you have followed Jesus for a few days or followed him for thirty years, you know that he is our hope and our salvation. But when you wake up and look in the mirror each day, how do you change into a person who lives and looks more like Jesus? How does your day-to-day spiritual growth happen?
This is where we’re headed with this six-week study. And let’s be clear. This isn’t a self-help study. There’s no checklist of things for you to strike off that will take you from point A to point B. The gospel is what changes you. The work of the Holy Spirt in your life changes you. So, what does it look like to let the gospel transform you every day? We’re going to discover that we don’t work for our salvation. We work out our salvation.
There is a big word we use for working out our salvation called sanctification. It just means the process of becoming more like Jesus every single day. We love him. We have a relationship with him. Now how do we live like him?
We want to change, but we cannot do it our own. Does that make you feel free or like a failure? For those of us who like control and being able to do everything on our own, the need for help feels uncomfortable. But an artist does not stare at his paint brushes and expect them to create by themselves. He picks them up. He combines them with paint. He cleans them. He creates. In the same way, the Holy Spirit works in us and through us. Another one of our studies, Enjoying Jesus, states: “Jesus doesn’t call us to simply put his teaching into practice by our own willpower. If we try to do that, we will fail. We will be utterly unprepared to turn the other cheek or to love our enemy if we haven’t spent time with Christ in the unseen, everyday things.”
We were made to reflect our savior, but we don’t do that on our own. We become more like Jesus when we surrender and let him work in us. You are his creation, and he has a great plan in mind for you. When you get to know him more, it becomes so much easier to see that his way for you is better than your own way. Take a deep breath knowing that.
There is hope. You can change because Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit changes you. Praise be to God. Hope is alive.
"That, when we are stuck in sin, we usually experience not a quick fix or immediate turnaround but a progressive movement toward righteousness" that is so true. I think sometimes we as Christians expect the grand moment but in reality it is little moments continually all day every day. I’m so grateful for the power of the Holy Spirit and that I don’t have to do this on my own.
To truly believe in my heart and not just store all this knowledge in my head that the Holy Spirit resides in me.
To "let go my soul and Trust in Him". Because I know I can’t control this life, and I need to live into that, and Trust Him. To lean into the change.
Would like to really give up my control freak tendencies and trust God especially when it comes to my one teenage daughter that has made many poor choices. I need to be more like Jesus in my relationship with her which is often difficult for me
To become New. To truly love my past enough to let it go.
I’d like to see myself surrendering cravings for fleshly comfort that can lead to unhealthy habits and instead turning to His Spirit and presence for that comfort…and experiencing His peace and power in increasing measures.
Very good!
To stop trying to control all things and to know that HIS way is better than my way!
I would like to learn to seek Jesus when I’m feeling lonely
I want to change my mindset to faith from fear. I want to trust God fully and completely with my life and walk boldly into the life that he has called me to live.
I want to move forward, to get out of " this stagnant" state of letting all of life’s stuff distract me from the one true story: living for Jesus in all I do!