Hi Friends,
If any of us are to truly serve God, then we must start by allowing Him to change our heart, then renew our minds, then transform our behaviors. Service automatically comes out from a life lived this way. Listen to God’s Word:
“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Php 1:6 NIV
Spirit and soul. The moment we surrender our lives to Jesus as Lord and Savior, we become a New Creation in Christ. Essentially, Jesus changes our nature. We are no longer sinners, alone and left to our own devices…which is never a good thing, BTW. We are now saints, who need lots and lots of guidance and direction to become the children of God we were originally supposed to be. This means we are far from perfection in our thoughts, words and deeds. But because of the residing Presence of the Holy Spirit within us, we have the potential to become more and more like Perfect Jesus. This is that first Ripple we talked about way back in January this year: New You. Once Jesus, our Rock, drops into our lives, He begins to change every part of us and He begins with our heart, because this is the most important part of who we are. It is in our heart, the center of our being also called our spirit, where our character resides. Our character is our identity. Again, apart from God, our identity was “sinner” with all of our selfish, prideful, MMI-centered desires. It was all about “me”! But after Jesus comes, it rightfully becomes all about Him. Since our character will outlast this world, coming with us wherever it is we go after this life, God focuses on this nature. First taking us from death to life, by transforming our spirit, and then from darkness to light, by continually transforming our soul. Here we begin to think like Him, control our emotions like Him and align our will with His. We truly do become a New You because we see the world differently, and so our behaviors reflect this new perspective. Now we begin to desire to please God more, instead of self. We begin to bless others before we bless ourselves. We begin…because Jesus has begun this good work within us. And no pressure here because, according to that lovely verse above, the weight of this grand task is not on our tiny shoulders. He will make sure we keep growing into who we were always meant to be. He will work things in such a way we will choose to allow Him to change us from the inside out. Jesus started this good work in us, and He will make sure to finish this good work through us.
Body and Health. As we grow in Christ, we learn to appreciate everything He has given us, this includes our physical body. Hopefully somewhere along the journey, we learn that God desires, and has made it possible, for us to be as healthy as we possibly can be. Now we start to work with Him to change our eating habits, to make sure we drink plenty of nourishing fluids, to get as active as we can, sleep as restfully as we can and learn to hold on to His peace by controlling our environment as much as we can. And if you never heard of your Microbiome, I hope I introduced you to this amazing microscopic world living on the inside of us. If we work with Jesus to make the changes above, we will be fortifying these secret inhabitants, and they will do their job, helping us be stronger and healthier than ever before. We will become “Health Seekers,” not just in an intellectual way, but in a practical way. We will choose, more and more, to follow these “7 Pillars of Physical Health,” and this will also enhance our mental and emotional well being. Again, Jesus will give us the strength to do whatever we need to do to finish strong, our part is to simply bring our submissive and obedient heart. This is “simple” but not easy. Yet the more we grow in Christ, the easier it gets. Jesus started this good work in us and He will make sure to finish this good work through us.
Relationships and Service. The more we let go of MMI, the more fulfilling our relationships get too. The next Ripples were about marriage and parenthood. As we said, even if you do not have a spouse and/or children of your own, knowing about the changes needed in these most foundational relationships is important for everyone in the Church to acknowledge and understand. We need to help each other be the best person we can be. God works in us and one of the ways He does this is by surrounding us with godly brothers and sisters who can listen and counsel according to God’s Word. After this, we talked about our finances and how money is not only about money. Our finances reveal our heart, as well as our Faith in God. We learn to serve with our finances, instead of trying to hoard it all for ourselves. After all, none of it is ours anyway. Then we moved outward to all sorts of other relationships in our lives, from biological to our Forever Family in Christ, and our employer and colleagues to the stranger on the street. We are to improve in all these areas as we learn to be more and more like Jesus. Finally we finished with our focus on serving God by imitating Him and loving all the people He places in our lives. As we choose to trust God, Jesus will transform us into His Image, glory by glory, step by step, one maturity level to the next. Jesus started this good work in us and He will make sure to finish this good work through us.
One big circle rippling out to more circles. All these Ripples intersect, I hope you see this. Once we have made that vital decision to stop living the way we used to, alone and confused, God changes us from the inside out. As we become a New You, we will become better mates and parents and friends etc. As we become better humans, we will not lust for money and possessions, but freely and willingly (see Free Will here) use it to serve God and others. We cannot become generous apart from loving others and serving joyously. We cannot control our finances God’s way without being a better spouse. We cannot become healthier physically, mentally and emotionally and not be less stressed and more relaxed parents. My point? It all starts with surrendering our lives to Jesus, then He makes sure we transform into who we were always meant to be. Again, no pressure, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a part to play here. We can’t just sit back on our couch and become healthy, right? It is the same idea here. We must exercise our Faith and obey whatever it is God puts on our heart to do. This might mean giving up a week’s income to help a missionary overseas. It might mean stepping out of our comfort zone to help a friend in the middle of their trial. It might mean learning to love vegetables and finding new ways to get active and lose some weight. Whatever the changes, God will initiate them in our transformed heart, then we must work with Him so that the changes keep rippling out from us to those around us. We have the power to influence others to live a better life here in this world…but it doesn’t stop there, my Friends. We are given the power to affect Eternity every time we share our love of God and these changes He is making in our lives. We can bring others to Christ as they see what Jesus is doing in and through us. We can…if we engage in these Ripples, more and more. Again, no pressure. Jesus started this good work in us and He will make sure to finish this good work through us.
Life is a journey. This side of Heaven, none of us will get this thing called life, all right. We will not be perfect, but that’s ok. As God has told me many times, “Child, I am not looking for ‘perfect,’ I have already found that in My one and only Begotten Son. What I am looking for is perseverance.” When we mess up my Friends, because we will, we must run back into God’s waiting arms, confess our sin, then He is faithful to forgive us. (1Jn 1:9) And we, God and us together, can move forward with life, hopefully getting a bit more mature because of that shortfall. Lord knows I still mess up more than I would like to admit, but it is these falls, these sins, that keep me humbly attached to Jesus, because I know I cannot do anything good on my own. (Jn 15:5) As St Paul puts it, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Ro 7:15) Sin has no power over us, unless we give sin the power over us. So what shall we do?! We admit the truth, we are all broken creatures still in desperate need of God’s Love and Grace. We still need a Savior. Then we follow the words of our Lord Jesus, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mt 26:41) My Friends, first we “watch.” This means we become more and more aware of what we are thinking, how we are feeling and what we are desiring at any particular moment, so that we can tell if it is our old self or if this is God transforming us. But then we “pray.” We connect with God and trust Him with those thoughts, emotions and desires and ask for His strength to stay away if it is not from Him, or His help if it is Him changing us. If we do not learn these two steps, “watch and pray,” then life will be more challenging than it has to be. But either way, whether life stays hard or gets more and more simple, when our time here is done, Heaven is our only destination. Because, I will say it one last time: Jesus started this good work in us and He will make sure to finish this good work through us. This gives me such relief! And it also gives me the desire to gratefully continue to surrender, submit and obey my Lord Jesus. How about you? Then won’t you join me?
My Friends, may you all have a Blessed New Year, filled to the overflow with God’s Peace, Joy & excellent Health!
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
