The Power of the Changed Life

The power of the changed life is still the greatest demonstration of God’s power.  The Bible says, “Therefore if any man (person) be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).

What Jesus Christ offers us, when we come to Him with a heart of genuine repentance, is a new life.  The power of this newness of life is awesome.  This is a radical contrast to attempts at self-improvement and self-reformation which require enormous amounts of energy and ultimately end in futility, because, in every instance, the problem is one’s “self”.

When one comes to Jesus Christ in repentance, it isn’t a matter of patiently and methodically re-working one’s self, it’s a matter of becoming a “new” person, actually being “born again” of the Spirit of God.  The newness of life springs out of the Spirit of God now within and it is not a matter of trying to reform anything—it’s a matter of surrendering to the Spirit of God within.  Points of struggle for the new-born Christian come, not because of inability to perform what God is asking, but rather a selfish hanging on to some counter-productive habit from the previous lifestyle.

Would persons who have their wits about them genuinely want to opt for a lifestyle where they are forever struggling to “better themselves”, or would they rather surrender to the “Spirit of God” who immediately sets them free to become that for which they were created? 

The choice is ours.