Unless You Change

After Jesus invited a child to stand in the middle of the crowd, He said,"Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3 NIV).

The word for change means to be converted by changing direction.

God is immutable but we must change as we mature or grow up in Christ. If we refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to challenge our hearts we can soon move in a direction that opposes Him. Sadly, many believers are living a self-direct spiritual life that avoids conflict and pain regarding the truth about what is really going on in the heart. A whole generation has settled like the Israelites with the people of the land creating mixture and confusion.

Recently a forty year old ministry collapsed when the president said in essence that change is relevant to what the person determines and apologized to a community he felt was offended by the ministry. Jesus warns unless we change we will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Change in the Christian life is not an option. Every step in this journey with Christ we are being renewed, refreshed and transformed into His glorious image. He gives all the power, resources and abilities to make change possible and sustainable. It can be difficult to go counter to the voices that say God accepts you as you are so why change?

But to agree that a particular sin, orientation or way of living is impossible to change is to limit the Holy One by a spirit of unbelief. It puts us at risk of being one the foolish virgins who were unprepared when He returned for His bride.

Change begins with a simple yes to the Lord. The moment you shut down or block your ears from hearing what you know is true then change is hindered. God does not stop because of our unwillingness but moves on. To remain where we live and how we live can result in a withered, dry and lonely existence.

God's kingdom advances and so we must grow in His grace to meet the demands of life in constant spiritual motion.