Before and After
Our magnolia tree received a much needed trim, just in time for holiday decorating.
The before and after shots.
There is so much to write on related to before and after. Our personal makeovers, our home renovations, refinishing or recovering furniture, or restoring a car. An athlete before and after a competition. Landscapes before and after natural disasters. Life before and after marriage or divorce, or before and after children. Our church has recently established a new church called Recovery Church for addicts and their before and after stories bring you to tears.
Are you girded up with black trash bags for the December 25th before and aftermath that comes from gift wrappings strewn about, dried pine needles on the floor and a kitchens clad with plates, coffee cups and Christmas clutter?
You know where I'm headed though, don't you! The before and after that is of eternal value! The visible difference in our lives before and after we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Three immediate transformations that come when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts are the peace we receive, the confidence of eternity in heaven and the way our desires change.
It's the day to day living, change of self-centered desire process, giving our reactions to Jesus and call one Him to stomp out our sin that requires daily surrender and prayer.
By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 1 John 4:9
If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. Romans 8:10
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11
Don’t be controlled by your body. Kill every desire for the wrong kind of sex. Don’t be immoral or indecent or have evil thoughts. Don’t be greedy, which is the same as worshiping idols. God is angry with people who disobey him by doing these things. And that is exactly what you did, when you lived among people who behaved in this way. But now you must stop doing such things. You must quit being angry, hateful, and evil. You must no longer say insulting or cruel things about others. Colossians 3:5-8
You can be a morally good person and not be a Christian, but you can't be an obedient follower of Christ, controlled by the Holy Spirit, and continue to produce bad fruit, sin, without repentance.
The past week we've been in decorating mode at Shiloh, making things look festive and beautiful.
Colossians 3:5-8 reminded me I need to spruce up my heart condition as well.
Try this check list...
1) Am I being controlled by my body?
2) Do I quickly kill every desire for the wrong kind of sex?
3) Do I call on the Holy Spirit to help me not be immoral, indecent or have evil thoughts?
4) Am I having a tendency towards greediness and idol worship? Things that can creep in easily at Christmas when my focus goes from giving to receiving.
5) Is there anger lurking anywhere within me?
6) Have I acted hateful or evil or even had those kinds of thoughts?
7) Have insults or cruel comments run off my tongue?
The big before and after picture here is that we now have the Holy Spirit inside us to guide us, convict us and lead us to attitudes of quick obedience and repentance.
As we sweep up the pine needles, dead Christmas cactus blooms or wilting leaves on our poinsettias this month, let's take those moments to ask the Lord what is dried up and ugly in our own lives that needs to be tossed away so we reflect lives that are changed because of Jesus.
Don't miss today's song by Francesca Battistelli "Heaven Everywhere"
