Will and I had the wonderful, amazing, fantastic opportunity to see Eddie James and some “kids” from his ministry at a local church last week.
The thing that struck both of us most, aside from the incredibly annointed worship, was the testimonies of transformation spoken by so many of the high school and college youth that make up his band and dance troupe.
These were young people from desperate situations, most having suffered with one form or another of addiction, praising God and testifying to the redemptive power of Christ by the Spirit to pick up the pieces of broken lives and put them back together again.
Not only were their stories inspiring, but the very lives of these youth were proof that we don’t ever have to remain as we once were, and more than that, there is always hope. Let me say that again, there is always hope. But, there’s one important detail that we can’t forget. While God has all power to transform us internally because of the sacrifice made by Christ on our behalf, we have to walk out, “work out” the internal change in the external day-to-day, in the small things, in the little moment-by-moment choices of our lives.
In my own life, there have been times when I’ve felt in desperate need of intervention, of Christ to save me from myself. And there have been encounters, ones that I can name by date and time, with Christ that set the stage for dramatic change in my life. But, that change would never had happened from the encounter alone.
One of our biggest mistakes as Christians, I think, is that we think we just sit back and wait for God to turn us into a new thing. We don’t want to take any of the responsibility for our part in the process. Granted, as I’ve blogged before, our part is surrender. But surrender includes intentional choices toward what God is doing and away from what He is not.
We can pray that God “set a guard” over our mouths and that He “keep watch over the door(s)” (Psalm 141:3) of our lips, and He can and will, I believe, honor those prayers. He will be faithful to inwardly reshape the desires of our hearts. But, He is not the grand Puppeteer. We maintain responsibility for holding fast to the promise and spiritual declaration that we have been changed. It is our part to continue in His work, because it is easy to turn away and follow Him no more (John 6:66).
What sets us apart and confirms our unity with Christ is our obedience to walk in what He has done.
Our obedience, our faithful choices, show that “God’s love is truly made complete” in us. “This is how we know we are in Him. Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.”
