The Call to Personal Reformation

I’ve heard many times the challenge to be a real Christian. Not just an I’ve-said-a-little-prayer ‘Christian’, but a true Christ-follower, who knows her Lord and Master, and strives to serve Him with a joyful heart.

Our family recently attended a baptism at a local church to which we have several connections. But since then, I’ve promised myself to avoid that church like the plague, and here’s why: During a ‘message’, a lady gave this call to the congregation: “Don’t just be a good Anglican, saying and doing all the right things. We must be true followers of Christ.” This was hard to take, as many present we knew to be just that, “good Anglicans.” I don’t know what they were thinking as they sat there. But it didn’t seem to go very deep, because they all went to the kneeling rail for Communion.

Just saying a little prayer, or answering an altar call, or going to church
can’t make you a Christian. We were all dead in our sins, and only God can change that. And He does!

He has saved us, and we should rejoice in that. And we’re completely safe and dry. But we’ll never, in this life, be able to say “I’ve made it. Now that I belong to God, I do everything I can for Him.”  Well, you don’t, do you?

No matter who you are, where you live, or how old you are, there is always more work to be done. We don’t live our lives triumphantly, holding with uplifted arms the cup, the prize we’ve won. No. Instead, we press on toward the prize (Phil 4:13). There’s always more to be done. We can always be more humble. More obedient. More Christ-like. We can always be Reforming.

…He must increase…
…and I must decrease…

What do You Desire?

Psalm 37 :4 reads:

“Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

Now we might think that this means if
we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us whatever we want! If we love Him, He will provide us with a new summer wardrobe. And if we Abide in Him, He will see that we work out some way to stop the freezer in the next room keeping us awake all night. But I discovered that that is not actually the case! This is what happened to me when I began to delight in the Lord by talking to Him much more often and hiding His Word in my heart:

My desires changed!

I began to wish for other things. I longed to know Him better, and to spend more time with
Him. I saw the ruin of the world around me, and groaned in waiting for His return.
Delighting in Him, I wanted only to know Him more! Instead of desiring material goods, I
desired spiritual wealth. And He is faithful in giving it to me. Every day, I grow in His grace.
Here is Psalm 37 verses 5 and 6:

“Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.”

The desire of my heart is His second coming. With Him in heaven, I will have all eternity to delight in Him!