There's Hope For TodaySample

I’ve often engaged in that socially acceptable form of flattery assuring some long lost friend, “You haven’t changed a bit!” It is a common use of hyperbole to suggest that natural laws have been suspended and that the person in question has retained the glow of youth. It’s generally understood that accuracy isn’t really the point. But then, isn’t it also a rather cruel insult to suppose that one has not changed a bit? If, over the course of weeks, months, or years, one truly has not changed – then it might be argued that a life has been utterly wasted, Christ’s work frustrated, and the Holy Spirit grieved. Paul argues for a continual renewal and transformative process through which Christ is formed in us (Galatians 4:19). The Saul we meet on the Damascus road shows little resemblance to the Paul who partnered with Barnabas – and the Paul who walked with Barnabas is quite a different fellow than the prisoner we encounter in Rome in the later chapters of the book of Acts. We are made to grow roots and bear fruits. We are called to an ever-increasing knowledge of the Holy One. We dare not remain the same lest we suppose that we have somehow arrived. We are not done until we are home … and we’re not home yet.