The last two weeks, Pastor Terry has written on Discipleship, what it means and how it applies to us. As Christians, we believe that God changes people from the inside out through the Holy Spirit, beginning when someone converts from unbelief to faith in Christ.
When we give our life over to Christ, the Holy Spirit gives people new hearts and holy desires, and transforms their wills. The Holy Spirit provides power, conviction, and direction for change, and acts as an internal warning system when people make wrong choices. Plus, the Holy Spirit produces a fruit of love, joy, peace, kindness, and other positive qualities.
Some say that God also works through people’s past experiences, hurt, fear, and anger to bring healing and joy. This change can happen over a lifetime, and God can use everything that happens in people’s lives, good or bad, to help them become more like Christ.
To give some addition clarification, we found this interesting little blog from BibleLeague of Canada.
What it Means to Be Transformed From the Inside Out
Over the years we have worked in countries around the world, providing Scriptures and teaching people how to lead a Christ-filled life. Governments have welcomed us, communities have started churches and those considered to be outcasts have found their value in God’s Word. We have seen individuals, families, and communities be transformed by having access to the Bible, but what does transformation really mean?
The Bible is filled with stories of transformation, from David who found courage and strength to fight Goliath and later become King, to Zacchaeus who changed his ways after Jesus met with Him, to Jonah who found courage after God intervened through the use of a large fish. These are just a few stories of people in the Bible who were transformed by God. These people did not change in just one area of their life, however. They were transformed entirely because God’s Word and goodness changed their innermost being. They were able to find peace, courage, strength and forgiveness, forever setting them on a path that God planned for them, and that was better than anything they could ever imagine. Through being transformed on the inside, their lives were transformed on the outside.
We do not have to only look at the Bible to see acts of transformation. They are all around us. When we accept God into our hearts, we are forever changed. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” When we accept Christ into our lives, He works through all of the hurt, fear, anger, and past experiences that affect our daily life. He brings us healing so we may walk forward and find joy in what God has planned for us. From the inside, we are transformed. Instead of living in sin and shame, we can live as the light of Christ.
We have been so blessed to be able to meet with people in the countries that we work in, and hear their stories. Some have learned that they are valued and loved by God after believing that they were worthless; children have found patience and understanding and are now showing God’s kindness to others, in communities where violence is the norm; and people who have been shamed and hurt have found peace and comfort. God’s Word changes lives from the inside out, and we see it every day! How has He transformed your life?
“On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul.”
Psalm 138:3
So, What does the Bible say about change?
One thing we know is that growth requires change. The Bible gives us clear guidelines on what should change and what should stay the same.
“I, the Lord, never change,” God declares in Malachi 3:6. So that’s where we start. Change means a move in another direction. For God to change would mean that He either becomes better or worse, and God is ultimate perfection. He cannot change because He cannot be better than He already is; and He cannot fail or become less than perfect, so He cannot become worse than He is. God’s quality of never changing is called immutability.
God never changes, and nothing about Him changes: His character traits such as love, mercy, kindness, justice, and wisdom always exist in perfection.
God never changes, but people do: our bodies, brains, ideas, and values all change. In fact, God built into us the ability to change. Part of being created in God’s image is that human beings can think, reason, and come to conclusions distinct from physical or material realities (Genesis 1:27).
When God created Adam and Eve, they were perfect, but mutable. Any change they experienced was good, as they tended the garden and learned more of God and of each other. But sin brought about a negative change that altered not only Adam and Eve’s behavior and thinking but also their very nature. As a result, their environment changed, along with all of human history. In our sin, we lost our perfect environment and were left to wrest survival from an unforgiving planet (Genesis 3:17–19). Change had come, and it was not a good change.
Even when mankind fell into sin, God did not change. His love for humanity and desire for fellowship with them remained the same. So He took steps to redeem us from our sin—we are powerless to change ourselves in that regard—and He sent His only begotten Son to save us. Repentance and faith in Christ is God’s avenue of change to restore us to Himself.
Once we are “in Christ,” everything changes. We are born again (John 3:3). Our ideas change. Our perspective changes. Our values and actions change to line up with God’s Word. As the Holy Spirit works within us, we find that “the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Christian life is an ongoing series of changes as we grow in knowledge, faith, and holiness (1 Peter 1:16; Hebrews 12:14). We grow in Christ (2 Peter 3:18), and growth requires change.
Even good changes can be uncomfortable and scary. The Israelites in slavery in Egypt at first resisted Moses’ attempts to free them, believing Moses was a troublemaker who was making things worse for them—indeed, things did get worse before they got better (Exodus 5). At the pool of Bethesda, Jesus found an infirm man who had suffered his condition for a long time. Interestingly, Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6). A strange question with a logical purpose. Before the Lord introduced the man to lifelong change, He wanted to know: do you really want this, or are you more comfortable with your life of begging and living off the charity of others? Are you ready to change?
That’s a good question for us as well.
Some people believe that God’s Word must change or adapt to keep up with the times. However, Jesus strongly validated the Scriptures and called them “truth” (John 17:17). He also said, “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18).
If God’s character does not change, then His Word does not change. His truth, standards, and way of salvation will never change (John 14:6). Changeable humans do not have the power or authority to change God’s Word, and only the foolish will try.
Change for its own sake is neither good nor bad. It depends on the direction the change takes you. We should be willing to change our minds and our lifestyles when we are shown from God’s infallible Word that we are wrong. We should embrace change, no matter how hard it is, when it comes from God. But we must respect that some things never change and are not meant to: pretending we can change God or His Word to fit our preferences is a dangerous idea and only leads to destruction.
To close this out, we checked in with our friends at GotQuestions.org to see their thoughts on God changing us from the inside out:
God has given us some very clear instructions in His Word as to how we are to live for Him. These include the command to love one another (John 13:34-35), the call to follow Him at the cost of denying our own desires (Matthew 16:24), the exhortation to care for poor and needy (James 1:27), and the warning to not fall into sinful behaviors like those who don’t know God (1 Thessalonians 5:6-8). Jesus summed up a life lived for God when a teacher of the law asked Him the most important of commandments. Jesus replied, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
Jesus’ prayer prior to His crucifixion also sheds light on our purpose. Referring to believers, He prayed, “I have given them the glory you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:22-26). Jesus’ desire is for relationship with us.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” A life lived for God glorifies God. We pursue God with our entire being – heart, soul, mind, and strength. We abide in Christ (John 15:4, 8) and therefore act like Him by loving others. In doing that, we bring glory to His name and also enjoy the relationship for which we were originally created.
Those who wish to live for God must seek Him in His Word. We must seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to apply the Word to our lives. Living for God means giving up ourselves and desiring God’s will above all else. As we draw nearer to God and come to know Him more, His desires will more naturally become ours. As we mature, our desire to obey God’s commands increases as our love for Him increases. As Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15).
For God and you,
Deb Bostwick