Several decades ago at the age of 19, I walked into a drug rehab facility where I was going to spend the next few years of my life. The program director, Julius Young, said something to me in those first few days that changed my life forever. After spending some time talking with him and sharing my story, Julius looked me in the eyes and said, “Big Red, you can change!” These few words were the beginning of a lifelong quest to become all that God wants me to be. Nobody else had ever spoken to me like that, and I certainly didn’t speak to myself in that way. But the fact that this man really believed my life could be different gave me hope and encouragement that I had never had before.
As born again believers, our highest priority is to be like Jesus. In Romans 8:29 we’re told that God predestined us “to be conformed to the image of His Son.” God planned ahead of time – even before you and I were born – that we’d spend our lives growing and changing in a way that would make us more like Jesus every day. None of us is perfect like Jesus, nor will any of us ever be perfect. But if we desire to do so, we can each continually grow to be more like Him.
There are many verses in the Bible that tell us how to be more like the One we call our Lord. The primary way we change is to think on God’s Word, the Bible. God makes it clear that by thinking more on His thoughts, we’ll have more of His ways in our lives (see Isaiah 55:6-9; Romans 8:5-8; Romans 12:2). You may think that you aren’t a “spiritual person” or that you can’t really live as God wants you to live. If you think that way, let me assure you: YOU CAN CHANGE!! Nobody else has any advantage over you as far as the ability to think on the Bible and then have the results that God promises you’ll have.
I’m right now in the midst of a teaching series entitles, “You Can Change.” I hope you’ll be with us at Christian Faith Center over the next few weekends as we continue to learn how we can fulfill God’s desire for us to be more like His Son. Our weekend church services at our Federal Way and Mill Creek campuses are Saturdays at 6:00pm and Sundays at 9:30am and 11:30am. Our Peninsula campus meets on Sunday at 10:30am. If you can’t make it in person, be sure to watch online. We hope you can join us soon, and always remember…you can change!
