The great change we all need …

I love reading the first chapter of the New Testament book written to the Colossians and being reminded that everything — that includes you and me — was created through and FOR Jesus Christ:

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see -such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him,” Colossians 1:15-16.

We human beings exist solely to worship, glorify, and enjoy God! That is our purpose for being.

Put another way, we live for the express purpose of pleasing God.

Is that what your life looks like? Something that pleases God?

If not, that’s the great change that needs to happen in your life. In all our lives!

And that is what God is focused on accomplishing in the lives of all who are His adopted children:

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” – Philippians 2:13.

If you’re like many people, you’re thinking your life really isn’t something that routinely pleases God. You’ve tried and tried, but you keep failing … because you’re missing the point. Note in the scripture passage above that it says God is the one who is busy at work in the Christian, He is the one doing the work of transformation that is needed so that we can have a genuine desire to please Him, and the power to live in such a way that pleases Him.

We need to cooperate with God regarding our spiritual transformation like Harry the caterpillar needed to cooperate with metamorphosis. In his book, “Seven Wonders of the Spiritual World,” pastor and author, Bill Hybels, relates the story of a poor, lowly caterpillar named Harry who longs to become a butterfly. The caterpillar whole-heartedly commits himself to the prospect. He tries and tries, but in the end meets with no success …

“It is hopeless. I am a brown, boring, branch-crawling caterpillar, and that’s my destiny. Woe is me.”

You’d be tempted to say to the caterpillar, “Look, friend, all the commitment in the world won’t change you into a butterfly. But if you cooperate with the miracle of metamorphosis, you can become a multicolored, aeronautical phenomenon!”

If you’re like our imaginary friend Harry, considering Christianity but hanging back because deep down you know you can’t measure up to the standards, you know yourself well. What you need to understand is the old cart and horse principle, spiritually speaking.

Most people think they have to change their ways, straighten out their lives, clean up their acts. They believe they have to transform themselves before they can become Christians. They try and fail … again and again. It’s an exercise in futility.

Trust your life to Christ … He performs the miracle of salvation — that spiritual metamorphosis that infuses into our lives the power for total transformation.

Are you cooperating with God’s transforming work of changing your desires so you long to please Him? Or are you indulging yourself in the desires of the flesh?

Are you cooperating with God’s transforming work of empowering you so that you’re capable of living in a way that pleases Him? Or do you still take on each day under your own insufficient power?

Scotty