Change Is a Choice
By Rick Warren
“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)
It’s not enough to want to change. It’s not even enough to say, “I have a dream of changing.” Dreams are worthless unless you wake up and actually act on them. You’re not going to change the problems in your life until you choose to change.
How are you going to be different in six months? Are you going to be emotionally stronger? Are you going to be mentally sharper? Are you going to be physically healthier? Are you going to be more spiritually mature?
It isn’t going to happen automatically. You aren’t just going to get healthier by accident in any category of your life. A lot of times we think we’re waiting on God to change us. You’re not waiting on God. God is waiting on you.
There is no growth in your life without change. There is no change without loss. And there is no loss without pain. You’ve got to let go of some old stuff, and it’s not always going to be easy.
Some of you are stuck right now because you haven’t learned how to let go. That’s a choice. Ephesians 4:22 says, “Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception” (NLT).
You might say that your defects are from your circumstances or your chromosomes. But it doesn’t really matter where they come from. You need to deal with them. Genetics explains your inclinations, but it doesn’t excuse your sin.
Here’s the good news: Once you become a believer, you have a new power in you that is greater than those old tendencies. That power is the Holy Spirit.
Philippians 2:12-13 says, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (NIV).
Does that mean you are supposed to be afraid of God? Of course not! It means be afraid that you’ll miss God’s best and waste your life. Be afraid that you will go your entire life and never know God’s purpose.
The secret to changing your life is not willpower. It’s God giving you the will and the power through the Holy Spirit to do what needs to be done.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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