I like sharp cheddar cheese. I also like mild cheddar, but I like sharp better and I can’t remember when this changed because it wasn’t always that way. I grew up as a young boy in the state of Wisconsin where it’s required by law to like cheese and the Green Bay Packers. I’m a follower of the law and I like cheese and the Packers. (It’s not really law in Wisconsin)
I was thinking the other night as I sliced some cheese off a wedge of sharp cheddar how much I’ve changed over the years. I used to play with G.I. Joe’s, but I don’t anymore (admittedly it’s been a few years). I used to like Stephen King novels but couldn’t imagine ever picking one up again. I really liked my sin but God has caused change in me.
Why do we change?
God’s word calls us to change. We should be growing in knowledge of God (2 Peter 3:18). We should be growing in holiness and love; a natural outpouring of God’s grace in our lives. Paul consistently prays for the Believers in the early church for sanctification and change.
Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
God expects and demands that we change. Granted I’m not sure He cares whether I prefer sharp cheddar to mild cheddar unless it’s a holiness issue but then again since He concerns Himself with every detail of my life, maybe He has a reason for this.
Does your life continue to change?
Are you growing in holiness and sanctification? Are you being conformed to the image of the Son? Has He begun a good work in you and you look more like Christ today than you did yesterday? These are some serious questions that should force us to examine our lives.
There is only One that never changes.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
He never changes, I must change… to change in Christ I must be diligent.
2 Peter 1:5-11 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
If your life is not being characterized by a change to the glory of God, I pray you will meditate on these words and seek Him today while He can be found. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and He will lift you up.
Kevin
Uncommon Faith 