Change

Hi all, I pray everyone is having an awesome day! God has been placing things on my heart for a while for me to focus on and change. You all know what I mean. Things about yourself that are displeasing to God. We as Christians all struggle with Sin, Christianity is a life long journey, with every step trying to shed yourself of your wicked ways and continuously develop a relationship with God. God talks about change often in the Bible. In Matthew 18 Jesus speaks about "Unless you change" "you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven". On the other hand God does talk about the changes each individual goes through when they call unto the Lord to be their Savior. In a nutshell meaning that become saved evokes a change in all of us. Jesus's message stays consistent throughout the Bible (big surprise!) where if you become a Christian you are Changed, but if you do not change you cannot go to heaven (Matthew 18). by looking at these to examples one can deduce that the person that Jesus is talking about in Matthew is a person not saved and therefore unchanged. As Christians we are changed and have accepted the gift of life from God. Now I have to admit that I did take a little liberty with Jesus's specific teaching in Matthew, but this this example is not uncommon of what Jesus talked about in the New Testament. Now as I get back on track; Jesus talks about a change everyone needs to revisit on their journey through Faith, a sorta airing of the laundry, spring cleaning so to speak. I used to feel convicted of these teachings, pray, then just quite everything bad in my life cold turkey then a week later, wonder why I had failed. It took me a while to realize that change happens gradually. It's a process, a journey a lot like our journey in Faith. I suffered from the I want it now syndrome. I wanted it my way, with no onions, and extra cheese! These changes that we here our pastors speak about during services are not a bang, pow(!) insta-change powder packet we need to dump in our drink. it's a take it one step at a time pace yourself change. It's amazing what you learn about yourself when you focus on one thing at a time and give it to God and see what he does with it. Let people see your falls, faults, and struggles. Let them also see your successes. God can use those to inspire and uplift others. So go and experience a spring cleaning!

The reason I brought this up is because a while ago I decided to take my spiritual growth slowly and one step at a time. I started noticing that I was at a plateau in my walk, for like a year or more. I just decided to pick one thing about myself that I knew was displeasing God and began to focus on it. It started with the drugs I was abusing then quitting, then going back to, then quitting, then going back to etc. It then spread to downsizing my alcohol intake. Other than one day during the holiday season I can't remember a time I consumed a considerable amount of alcohol (I'm talking about more than a couple glasses of wine). cleaning up the vocabulary I used behind closed doors (which I had a really bad streak with during this holiday season by the way. oops), quitting cigarettes, reading the bible more, stop being such a hermit and stay connected with friends (this e-mail for example), begin taking time out of the day to focus on God. These are all personal issues of mine that I decided to give up to God one at a time and throughout my struggles I continue to learn more of His Grace.

At current time I have been drug free for over a year, zero slip ups for 7 months. I currently only drink 1 glass of alcohol a week on average - for about a year now. I spend every morning at work in devotion before I move on to other tasks, I focus on God all day by playing only Christian music on my computer (and iPod) while I work, I have been cigarette free, 0 slip ups for 4 and a half months. All of this within a years time. There is a saying among musicians who practice that goes: " you will learn faster if you practice slower" and this has been very true in my walk this past year. I was reflecting at my accomplishments a week ago and I was disappointed. I didn't think that I had come very far. This was until I spoke with an old friend over the phone. After the call I was astonished at how far he had back slide until I realized it wasn't him, it was me. I had come a lot farther in my faith than I had thought. When speaking with this person it was as if he was different, when after further inspection I realized he hadn't changed at all, I have. The desires I had for my future have changed, the things I enjoy doing have changed (somewhat), the faces I hang around with have changed, my taste in music has changed, my outlook on life has changed, my politics have changed, my relationships have changed, my responsibilities have changed, my knowledge of God has changed, I have changed and all for the better! My recent journey hasn't been about doing works nor has it been without struggle. It has been about clearing the junk out in my life so I could have room for God (thanks Steve Holsinger). The best part of it is every time you make progress god reveals more of Himself to you. The bestest part is there will always be more to change. : )

Blessings,
Dave Roediger