Hope for Transformation Sample

‘All my life I called myself a Christian, but my life didn’t look much different from the people around me. In high school I felt powerless to resist pornography or to control my temper. A lot of my behaviour was driven by pride and by a desire for a certain reputation. My life wasn’t characterised by service and love but by pleasure seeking and selfishness.

‘When my faith changed from believing something into a relationship of trust and loyalty to Jesus, those struggles didn’t end, but they did begin to change. The Holy Spirit began changing me. I started to let the old me die with Christ on the cross, and the Spirit helped me to get better at imitating Jesus - loving people, making peace, doing what is right instead of what is easy. This is something I am still practising, and some weeks are better than others.’ 

When we put our faith in Christ, our struggle with sin does not end. In the short term, it may seem easier to choose selfish desires over a Spirit-enabled life of adventure with God, but then we experience frustration and defeat. Our lives often look no different from those of people around us. When we put our faith in Jesus, we invited Him to take His place on the “throne” of our lives. We submitted ourselves to His rule and trusted Him to direct and empower us to live for Him and His purposes.  

However, when we fail to draw upon the power of the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life, we begin to run our own lives for our own ends. Pulled by our fleshly, self-indulgent nature, we end up on the ‘throne’ of our lives instead of Jesus. This is how the vicious cycle of frustration and defeat in a Christian’s life begins. 

Tomorrow we will look at what Jesus has done to put an end to our self-indulgent nature and replace our powerless, fruitless lives by giving us His own life.  

Reflection

How are you tempted to step out of sync with the Spirit? Is there anything specific you need the Spirit’s power to turn away from? 

Thank you, Lord, for giving us your Holy Spirit. Help us to turn away from the old, self-indulgent nature and experience the empowered, fruitful life you created us for.