Inner change

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17

We know that our righteousness and justification is on the basis of Christ's work alone, not our own works. But sanctification is the ongoing process by which we become more like God. It does not happen overnight when we get saved, but we must cooperate with the work of God's grace in our lives to allow ourselves to be conformed into his image.

However, many people get the process the wrong way round. They try to change their inner man by changing their outward habits. The pharisees were the classic example of this. They had many external rules an regulations which they thought if they followed would make them more holy!

Jesus said to them, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean." (Matthew 23:25-26)

True change has to come from the inside.

Trying to change yourself from the outside in is like pulling an elastic band out of shape. By the strength of your will you may manage it for a while, but eventually it is going to ping back into shape! Many people experience the same frustration when trying to change themselves by willpower alone! It's not meant to work that way. The outside will always conform to what is inside. Change your inner man, and the behaviour of the outer man will conform.

The way we change our inner man is to allow God's word of truth to do its work. Read it. Dwell on it. Meditate on it. Love it. Remember it. Speak about it. Then live it... out of the overflow of the heart.

[Originally posted to Facebook 02/02/18]