Life Change

Romans 6:13 (NIV): Life Change

Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

When God touches our lives and changes us, we have no other choice but to respond to that change. Being brought into a new life in Christ means abandoning those habits that hurt God, others, and ourselves. When, through God’s grace, we embrace a new life of love, the world changes, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are strengthened to become “instrument[s] of righteousness.”

The Cross and the Switchblade (1962) chronicles the events of David Wilkerson, a young country pastor who answers God’s call. That call leads him to the heart of the New York City youth gang culture. It is an unbelieveable but true story about how God uses one man to begin a revolution in helping the abandoned, lonely street kids whose lives are enmeshed in violence, drugs, and prostitution. This pastor eventually teams up with other people of faith to found Teen Challenge homes across the country. God uses David and his team to love society’s loveless and welcome the world’s unwanted. In the memoir, some of the most hardened criminal gang members miraculously change. They go from being “instrument[s] of wickedness” to “instrument[s] of righteousness” through the power of the Holy Spirit. David’s memoir is a moving testimony to how God can use each of us to change the world.

In Christ, let us pray to change the world together:

“To say that 'prayer changes things' is not as close to the truth as saying, 'Prayer changes me and then I change things.' Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person's inner nature."

--Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost for His Highest

Lord Jesus, we pray to be “instrument[s] of righteousness.” For when our lives imitate your love in this world, they not only change the lives of those around us, but more intimately draw our own lives to you. Amen.

Have a blessed week,

Stan