A Backward Formula
A Backward Formula
Who will you compare God with? What likeness will you compare Him to? (Isa. 40:18)
Running in Sand
How does looking to God really help fix my marriage, raise my children, and do a better job at work? Can God help with all those areas of life? Sure. But Christianity is not a self-improvement program; it’s a relationship. Jesus told Nicodemus, one of the most religious men in the Jewish world, that he needed to be born again. Real change, Jesus said, doesn’t come from outward conformity to rules but from inward transformation.
The deepest problems of life do not find their solutions in a book, a seminar, a ten-step program, but at the foot of the cross where Jesus conquered the sin and death that want control of our lives. When we try to be godly in our own strength, we only end up frustrated. But when we are in constant, ongoing fellowship with Him, He renews us each day from the inside out.
Running with Assistance
The Holy Spirit is our divine change agent, operating powerfully and persistently within us, though often imperceptibly. He leads us into all truth (see John 16:13) and keeps pointing us back to Jesus for guidance and counsel (see John 15:26). He gives us insight into all our tasks and relationships and makes us useful and caring to those around us.
When we try to change ourselves, we fail miserably. We simply cannot manufacture the heart transformation that’s needed to produce good works. A fruitful Christian life is only a product of God’s work in us through His Spirit.
Bottom Line
Christian men are made into godly men by yielding to God in us—the Holy Spirit. That’s the only way.