Dear Ones,
Hope you wake to a day of sunshine! I plan to go downstairs for coffee and Choc covered raspberries. The question I have for you this week is, Would others say you have changed and grown the last 5 to 10 years or would they say you are the same? (You could ask your spouse or a friend that question like I did, if you are ready for their answer.) Emoji
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Are we the same person we are today that we were 5 or 10 years ago, or have we changed so much that others can hardly recognize the new me? Hopefully we are not the same and have grown in the Lord and let Him change us to become more and more like Him. If we have been self-centered in the past, would others see us now as one who is centered in the Lord and who then reaches out to others? Would we have a furrowed brow and an anxious look as we see the world situation getting worse or would we have a calm presence and peaceful countenance that makes them wonder if we have had a happy pill?
When Al went to his high school reunion, I heard his classmates say, “I can’t believe Sam (his nick name then) is a pastor now!” They knew him as a fun loving, always joking sort of guy but not pastor material. But God changed him and it was so evident to them, that he is not the same person they once knew.
I’m sure we can all identify as we know friends that have had such a life change that they are hardly recognizable. Recently, I was introduced to a friend I hadn’t seen since high school when she was a rather quiet and shy. I didn’t recognize her as she was now a very confident person, a pastor, and the president of a college. Wow! My immediate thought that went through my mind was, only the Lord can produce such change!
We might ask ourselves, what would people say about us? Would they see Jesus in us? As I read today from II Cor. 5:15 (ESV), “and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.” Paul said to the Christians in Corinth that it was the love of Christ that controls us and we are now a new creation, and the old has passed away and the new has come.
We should not be the same as we were years ago but rather changed more and more into His likeness and just maybe others will hardly recognize us
Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to bring change to you where needed and to grow in your likeness to Him.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy