God Saves Us to Change Us

Shows such as The Biggest Loser, Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, and even talk shows like Dr. Phil are all successful for one reason: We love to watch personal transformation take place. The shows are so intoxicating some people become motivated to go do something.

But there’s one giant problem to this.

We love to watch other people transform but rarely are we willing to go through the long process of transforming ourselves. So, inevitably, we choose to stay right where we are.

We don’t change. We don’t take risks. We never do anything too difficult.

What is lost in the reality of our melancholy existence is that God saves us to change us. (Tweet This!)

Consider Paul’s words to us: “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2nd Corinthians 3:18, emphasis mine). In other words, God is slowly transforming us, sanctifying us,  through the power of His Spirit.

God is continually at work in the midst of our fits, starts, struggles, and achievements. He’s slowly working out His holiness in us.

God doesn’t save us and then leave us to figure out life on our own.

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We have subtly taught ourselves that God saving us was a one time act of mercy that has little bearing on the present moment. What we’re missing is that God saves us knowing who we can become through our surrender and His work.

But this isn’t a call for us to become focused on works and action before the affectionate embrace of a relationship with our Merciful God. I appreciate what John Powell says about this:

“We think we have to change, grow and be good in order to be loved. But rather we are loved and we receive His grace so we can change, grow and be good.”

(Today is the launch for my book’s introduction video. Hope you like it and share it with others. Watch the video here RSS readers.)

The changes needed in our lives are not our own doing, but God’s.

We are not who we are destined to become.

We are not stuck the current reality of our melancholy existence.

God is at work in our lives, creating in us, the fullness of Christ.

I’d love for you to share in the comments about how you have seen God change you in the past.

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Many, many thanks to my friend Jay McKenney for helping me put together this video (get in touch with him for great video production/filming/editing). Thanks for the overwhelming amount of hours you spent Jay. And thanks to my friend Ross Gale for helping me with the script.

**Learn more about Why Holiness Matters**