July 17, 2022
Greetings and blessings to all of you. In Isaiah 43:19 the Word says, “for I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in dry wasteland.” God wants us to change. God wants us to live in a mindset of repentance. God’s purpose in creation and redemption is to have his children conformed to the image of his Son. In Romans 8:29 “for those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son…” Our attitude for this change should be welcomed. But because we are a stubborn people we persist in sin (in word, thought and deed). But God is longsuffering; He does not execute an evil deed quickly. “When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong. Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men who are reverent before God.” (Eccl. 8:11-12) When our hearts are unrepentant our hearts can get hard and when the Holy Spirit convicts us, we are deaf. When God seems slow to react, we might hope He is overlooking our transgression because of the momentary pleasure or sense of autonomy we gain from being disobedient. But because of His love for us, He knows our weaknesses, our innate carnality and the state of our spiritual growth, God measures His response. That’s Grace. An Alvinism for change is Completely Having A New Growth Experience. Do we want to change? Do we want to grow and mature in Christ? Do we want to stop spinning our wheels or stay stuck in the mud? Or do we want to be transformed by the Spirit within to live the resurrected life? Do we want to become that “new creature” the Word refers to once we are Born- Again? “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” 2 Cor. 5:17 Being changed by God is understanding more about God and His ways. Let’s increase our responsibility toward Christ -to live as He desires of us. We must daily desire to be that person God wants us to be and that is only by living and walking in the Spirit; that is to have our life dependent upon and regulated by the Spirit.
First Lady Vivian C. Currie
Pastor ALC