Monday, February 20, 2012

REGENERATION

We don’t need behavior modification, we need regeneration.  You don’t just need to become a better person, you need to become a different person.  When God replants us in Christ, we become a whole new tree ... a new creation, a new mind, a new will, new emotions, new appetites, new passions, new pleasures, new affections, a new heart.


Jesus says life comes out of the heart - words come out of the heart - motives and deeds come out of the heart.  "Oh, I thought my words came out of my mouth."   No, they come from your heart.

'You don't need to become a better person, you need to become a different person.'

And the old heart ... the heart you get when you’re born, as a descendent of Adam, is a heart of stone.  It’s hard toward God; it’s stubborn and rebellious and defiant.

But when you become a follower of Christ, God removes the heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh - not a perfect one, mind you - but a new one - a heart increasingly made to be more and more like Jesus.  And God doesn’t want you to just try to do better or try harder, He wants you to be completely uprooted, replanted and born all over again.


So if you’re trying to figure out how to get your life together, let’s not worry about your behavior just yet.  Let’s get you connected to Jesus, and He'll change you from the inside out instead of you trying to make your own behavior adjustments from the outside in.

And be blessed.



No comments: