The awesome tool God gives you to change yourself …

From the start here, let’s get something clear: You and I are unable to transform ourselves. God can do that, and He wants to do that. But we can make changes to ourselves, and God gives us a specific tool to enable us to make real changes in our lives.

Before looking at what the tool is that God has given us to enable us to make changes to ourselves, let’s first understand the difference between change and transformation.

Transformation generally means to take something and make something entirely new of it. That’s what God does with us:

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

We are not able to transform ourselves, but we can make changes to ourselves — to our thinking, to our emotions, to our attitudes and actions. From the first book of the Bible to the last, we see scripture is littered with exhortations for us to make changes. But on our own, we’re not even very effective at making changes, so God has given to us a specific tool to enable us to be able to make the changes He calls us to make.

That “tool” is self-discipline.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline,” 2 Timothy 1:7.

Modern research on the brain has provided us new insights about how self-discipline literally sculpts changes into our brains, as Lisa Delay describes:

From studying the brain scientists have found that repeated thoughts actually create physical grooves in the brain. When we practice a skill, learn a sport, or study facts, a little trench is carved into our brain tissue. This is another reason why it is hard to break a habit. A habit is truly physical. One must make a new brain groove to break a habit.

Repeated thoughts become not just brain grooves, but deeds, and repeated deeds become concrete routines. This natural functioning condition of the brain helps us to learn in the best-case scenario. In a worst-case scenario these thoughts become ditches of self-doubt, phobias, obsessive thoughts, vices, misdeeds and worse.

As the Holy Spirit works to transform us more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ, God wants us to apply self-discipline to bring about change. He has initially transformed us by burying us with Christ in baptism, and raising us to walk in newness of life as a brand new creation. But we still have the pull of the flesh and the world; we need to apply self-discipline to make sure we’re thinking, feeling, and behaving differently now that we have been adopted as God’s own children. Look at how our cooperating with the Holy Spirit by making changes through self-discipline while He continues to transform us produces the fruit God wants from our lives:

“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, [change] throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, [transforming] let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. [change] Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy,” Ephesians 4:21-24.

God is perfect at accomplishing His transforming work in our lives. But we still have free wills, the freedom to make all the decisions about and for ourselves. God wants us to change those patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors by applying self-discipline to such a degree we’re etching those changes into our brains with the formation of new grooves that come from repeatedly practicing these better decisions.

God can and wants to transform you. But He also leaves much for you to contribute by your choosing to make changes that He calls for. Are you applying the God-given tool to make those changes, or are you sitting back and expecting God to make those changes for you?

Scotty