The Redemptive Story of Change

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19


Yesterday was a day of remembrance for me. About a year ago, my devotion discussed when it was good to be ‘that guy’ who was a humble servant of God. Yesterday, I found myself being excited to be a member of ‘that church’. Let me give you a picture of what it looks like. We had a service where all we did was hear testimonies both by baptism and stories of transformation. There were stories as short as a young child who was getting a baptized because his parents said so and as long as a man whose life went from being incarcerated to finding peace with Christ. There were people whose families followed God and influenced them all of their life. And there were others who just picked up the Bible and found salvation just through reading. Some people built closer relationships with God through their small groups, and others through deep prayer and reflection by themselves. It was a full range of emotions and experiences, and all spoke of God’s awesome power.

It was a reminder of a couple of fundamental truths about God. First, there is no one right path to God. There are many paths, and none are better than the other. No matter what your path was, know it was that way for a reason, and God will use that very path to not only guide you in your journey of faith but also help someone else. It is how God is able to reach so many. People who are lost can always find a story that is tailor made to fit them at a time that is optimal for their hearing. It is part of God’s perfection; being able to find the right message at the right time for that person. Second, God truly is the great and holy redeemer. No matter whom we are and how closely we have lived our lives in accordance to God’s law, all of us fall short of His glory. There is no way that we can fix or reconcile it on our own. However through Jesus Christ, we are given the gift of grace, which reconciles our level of sin and gets rid of our greatest barrier between us and God; guilt.

Our God truly transforms lives. No one or nothing is more personal in their relationship with us, and there is no greater influence of big change than God. If you question it, just ask a Christian you know “why.” Why did they choose Jesus? Why do they believe in Him? Make sure you ask for the long version. As you hear the stories of transformation and truth, you will soon begin to understand why our God is truly all knowing, and if you would allow yourself, be humbled by the sheer awesome experience of how one becomes God’s child and transformed. It can be a story of love, redemption, change, confirmation, dedication, verification, and a bunch of other things because God is everything. My prayer is that we embrace the true symbolism of God’s redemptive story of change. Amen.