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Announcer (00:00:00): Think about the Bible like you never have before. You are listening to Christian Questions. Experience more episodes, videos and Bible study resources at ChristianQuestions.com. Our topic is, "It's Time to Change, But How Much is Enough?" It's not easy to change, and now that we're talking about it, maybe change isn't such a great idea after all. I mean, think about the planning, the effort, the commitment, and all that discipline and discomfort. But wait! The Bible tells us that Christians are supposed to change. Ugh. Now what? Here's Rick, Jonathan and Julie.

Rick (00:00:39): Welcome everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co-host for over 25 years. Julie, a longtime contributor, is also with us. Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?

Jonathan (00:00:50): Romans 12:2: "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

Rick (00:01:04): Let's face it, we all know that each and every one of us can be better. We can be better human beings, we can be better friends, better coworkers, better spouses, better cousins, and certainly better Christians. The challenge here is obvious. Being better requires change--significant change. To be better in whatever area we're focusing on requires a different mindset, which brings different words, different actions, and this all translates into work. How do we go about actually becoming better? Where do we start? How many parts of our lives do we try to change? Do we work on them all at once? How do we figure out what the highest priorities are? What if we fail? How does the Bible guide us with all of these details? A lot of questions.

Julie (00:01:55): Ooh. Okay. Well, let's begin with our highest priorities. For that we're going to go into the book of Romans because the Apostle Paul reasons through our priorities in great detail. A very general overview of Romans shows him beginning by explaining how sinful the world is. He then spends several chapters showing us how we are to be different from this world because we are called to Christ. The call goes above the Law of Moses and requires our highest loyalty.

Jonathan (00:02:23): Chapters 9-11 lament Israel's rejection of Jesus, and how by God's grace, this rejection will ultimately be reversed. His point is that Israel had God's favor, His undivided attention, and they treated it too lightly. Paul begins chapter 12 with this dramatic example in mind: "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship."

Julie (00:02:54): In other words, look what Israel did. Don't do that. Don't mess up this opportunity. Learn from these examples of what they did wrong.

Jonathan (00:03:03): The message here is clear. Paul, with a message of Israel's failure as context, is urging every Christian to live a life of true and complete sacrifice.

Rick (00:03:14): This is an important verse because we often quote this verse to somebody new and we say, "Hey, this is what you're urged to do." This verse is actually quoted to somebody old saying, "Hey, this is what you're urged to do. This is something that you have to focus in on, that you have to change no matter how long you've been in the way." By definition, living in this way means wholesale changes need to be made. But does this mean that every single thing in our lives needs changing? In what areas of life should we be truly dissatisfied?

Jonathan (00:03:50): Rick, isn't it true that dissatisfaction can be a blessing or a curse?

Rick (00:03:56): Absolutely can. We want to be careful, because, and we talked about this when we were doing our prep work, using the word be "dissatisfied," encouraging people to be dissatisfied can easily be encouraging people to get depressed. It's not the point. The point is to encourage us to wake up. That's what we're after here. That's what we're looking for. Let's suggest that change is necessary in two different categories. We're going to look at categories of alteration and a category of abandonment. Okay? Two different ways changes will occur in our lives. Change first can mean alteration.

Jonathan (00:04:34): We can become better. We can change by altering certain parts of our lives so they can more definitively reflect Christ in us. For example, when I began to follow Christ, I learned that some of my language was not appropriate, and I needed to alter how I spoke. That took work coming from a worldly background.

Rick (00:04:53): Alright, so there's an alteration; there's something that can be adjusted. Change can also mean abandonment.

Julie (00:05:02): Yeah, sometimes we can only become better by abandoning certain thoughts, words, or actions and completely replacing them with spiritually-sound thoughts and responses. For this category, think about destructive behaviors like addiction, abuse, adultery and so on.

Rick (00:05:19): Abandoning something means I've got to leave it behind. No vestiges of it are to follow me. I don't secretly hide something in my pocket. It all stays behind. Alteration = making a change on the run; abandonment = leaving something behind. Let's look a little bit deeper here. What specifically, what specifically would need to be abandoned? Julie, you already mentioned a couple of things, but let's take a look at this next scripture in 2 Corinthians. Did the Apostle Paul in this next scripture suggest that we can avoid abandoning anything? We just said abandonment's a big thing. Now in this next scripture, is he contradicting that? Did he give us a way to hold onto our sinful selves? Let's look at 2 Corinthians 12:8-10:

Jonathan (00:06:05): "Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."

Julie (00:06:33): Rick, you asked if Paul is giving us an "out" here to hold onto our sinful selves. Well, it depends on what the weakness is. Here we're not told what it is. Someone could say, "Well, it sounds like he's giving up, he's accepting he's weak, can't do anything about it, so he's just going to be content where he is. In fact, he's actually boasting about his weakness and that the power of Christ will show itself anyway. God loves me just the way I am." So, how is Paul abandoning his weaknesses?

Rick (00:07:02): This is the question that needs to be put right in front of our faces because he actually is telling us, yes, abandon them. He's saying, okay, yeah, I boasted my weaknesses. What's his thought here? Paul's real thought is that he can accept the fact that he's imperfect and broken. Why? Because he accepted the fact that Christ in him can be the overcoming factor of his brokenness. It's not accepting, Hey, broken's good, I'll live there. It's accepting broken exists and Christ can help me cope and overcome it. There's a big difference between those two things. We want to understand Paul's clear focus, and he actually clarifies this thought in great detail in Romans 6. Romans 6, we're going to take a look at verses 1-4 and then 6-7.

Julie (00:07:58): Just a quick context, Paul tells us in 5 where there's sin, there's corresponding grace from God. He then addresses the logical question, does that mean we can all sin as much as we want because God will keep forgiving us?

Jonathan (00:08:12): "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life...knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin." Well, we need to carefully examine ourselves to see what thoughts or behaviors we need to abandon.

Rick (00:09:02): This is really what the Apostle Paul is saying; you are dead to your old life. Look, I don't know about you, but if you're dead to something, you don't, there's no connection anymore. It's over. It's done. It's in the past. He said, you can't, you can't bring it into this new life. The two don't work together. Knowing that there's no room to allow sin in our lives because the apostle just explained that in great detail (and Julie, that should have answered your question from before in great detail!), let's focus on what needs to be absolutely, positively, unequivocally, undeniably abandoned. Let's look at Galatians 5:19-21. Now this is not one of our favorite scriptures, but this is one of the scriptures that we are glad it's there because it helps us with perspective. Jonathan, Galatians 5:19-21:

Jonathan (00:09:56): "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Julie (00:10:22): Some of these seem obvious like immorality and idolatry, but jealousy, anger, disputes? These will keep us from inheriting the kingdom of God? Uh-oh!

Jonathan (00:10:34): One warning; when we start looking at the ugly parts of ourselves to determine what to completely give up, we can get so overwhelmingly negative and down on ourselves that we can become paralyzed and can't move forward. If we're facing addictions or depression, for example, we likely need professional help, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Rick (00:10:55): You're right, and we need to put this all in perspective, and this is a big list. You look at that and say, "Jealousy, okay, I've got jealousy, I've got jealousy in my heart, and what do I do? That means I can't inherit the kingdom." No, that's not what it means. What it means is we don't park ourselves in it. We don't park ourselves in strife, we don't park ourselves in our outbursts of anger; we fight them. We ask for forgiveness. We step above and beyond and keep moving forward. If we are using these as excuses, that's the problem. These are things that we do want to abandon and it's a lifelong work. It's simply a lifelong work. These things need to be attacked, not tweaked, okay? Attack them. Don't make adjustments. Adjustments are out of the picture here. As we examine, what we're going to do is we're going to look at several phases of change, okay? We're going to break change actually into six different phases, and we want to put these things into the category of urgent work for every day. Because remember, these are things that we're talking about, you should be abandoning. Let's put into the category of how do we do that? How do we get our hearts and minds and will around moving forward? Let's start with our first Biblical Principle of True Change. Jonathan, what is it?

Jonathan (00:12:15): Dissatisfaction. The foundation of any God-honoring change is built upon the understanding that we are fundamentally unacceptable to God without Jesus. Accepting Jesus on an intellectual and heart level must provoke us to dissatisfaction with our present selves. It is important to realize that this is only the beginning of true, God-honoring change.

Rick (00:12:41): Don't get stuck in dissatisfaction as an end result. The idea of dissatisfaction is an attention getter. It's to put us in a perspective to say, uh-oh, something needs attention. It's not an end, it's simply a beginning, an important beginning. It looks like the idea of change for any serious Christian is an idea that needs to be taken very seriously and needs to be here to stay.

Jonathan (00:13:12): As we begin our journey of change, we have touched on things that need to be abandoned. What's the difference with things that need to be altered?

Rick (00:13:21): Okay, well there's a big difference between these two things. First of all, something that needs altering would be, like we talked about before, a thought or behavior that's already tempered with some level of goodness and integrity. A quick example might be something like, "I do love God's word, but I really think I need to spend more personal time in study." That's a good alteration. "I love God's word. Let me alter my behavior to raise myself closer to my heavenly Father in study." This change is taking an acceptable basis and growing a better habit.

Julie (00:13:58): My cousin Paul just told me this story. When he was a boy, his father told him to sweep out the garage. Like any boy who really wants to play with his friends instead, he quickly swept out the garage and left for the park. He's playing ball. He looks up and he sees his father signaling to him.

Rick (00:14:14): Oh boy, yeah, yeah, you hate that.

Julie (00:14:17): Yeah. They go back to the garage together and his dad said, "I thought I told you to sweep the garage." "But I did, I really did!" But there was a rug on the concrete and his dad lifted up the rug and moved it out of the garage and all kinds of little bugs crawled out and underneath it was dusty and dirty, and he handed Paul the broom. "You didn't finish the job." As an adult, Paul likens to what was under the rug to these changes we need to alter. You might think, "Well, I'm not murdering anybody or committing adultery like those people, so I'm fine." Yet there's still more we can do to be pleasing to our heavenly Father. We need to lift up the rug, see what crawls out and sweep it away.

Rick (00:14:57): Yeah, that's a good, good illustration, to put ourselves in the perspective of saying we want to try and do the work completely the first time. Trials come and we can learn lessons. What we don't want is the same trial to have to come three, four, five or six times because we're just too stubborn to learn. You sweep the floor well the first time and then keep it inside your heart and mind. Good, good story. Some examples, let's look at some examples of scripturally positive changes with scripturally positive beginnings. We read a scripture that talked about things we need to abandon. Now we're looking at a scripture that talks about things that the alteration process can work really well with. 2 Peter 1:5-8:

Jonathan (00:15:42): "Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." There's always something more we can add. There's always a higher level to strive for. The words for "diligence" that Peter stated jumped out at me. They mean "in all earnestness and haste." This reminds me of the Apostle Paul urging us forward in Romans 12:1.

Rick (00:16:29): You look at that and you're right, there is always something more, and we can look at that and say, "There's always something more." Or we can look at it and say, "You know what? There's always something more to grow closer to my heavenly Father. There's another step. Let me take that because it gets me closer." It's a matter of perspective.

Julie (00:16:48): Yeah, but realistically, we're never going to get there. I'm never going to have perfect patience, and I can't say I'm never going to be frustrated or I'm never going to react poorly, so really why even try?

Rick (00:16:59): Realistically we ARE going to get there. We are because it's not a matter of being perfect. It's a matter of having our intentions and our actions working hard so God can bless us. See, getting there has to be defined not by you or I, but by our heavenly Father. Let's keep that in mind so there is the reason to try and you become a more well-rounded Christian, and that's following Jesus. That's exactly what a disciple's supposed to be. We've observed dissatisfaction. We were talking about being dissatisfied and altering or abandoning things. We've seen dissatisfaction as a foundation for change. Because dissatisfaction is an attention-getter, as we talked about, we must focus it on creating positive momentum. Don't stop with being dissatisfied. Start there and move on to something else. Let's look at how change works. Change-- and here's the first part of these phases of change--change begins with desire.

Julie (00:18:06): Desired change has to be consistent with our highest Christian aspirations. See, if it's just an intellectual thought, we're going to be discouraged, like I just said, because it's too big and it's too impossible. We really have to desire the change in order for it to even have any hope of working.

Jonathan (00:18:24): Where is the desire coming from? Let's go back to the book of Romans. This is our theme text, Romans 12:2: "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." The word translated here means "metamorphose: to change completely in form or nature."

Julie (00:18:49): I just saw a great quote. Ready? "Your time as a caterpillar has expired. Your wings are ready." Metamorphose.

Rick (00:18:58): We have to be willing to go through the process of being different than we were. That's a process, that you have to have that desire. Do I want to stay the way I have been, or do I want to become more Christlike? This is really important. Now let's go a little further here because another New Testament word for transforming--you just talked about "metamorphose" and we see what that means. That's that internal change. There's another New Testament word for transforming that can have a very different meaning because it's focused on outward and not inward change. This word can depict a distortion in the seeking of change.

Jonathan (00:19:40): That word means "to transfigure or disguise." It just looks like a change on the outside, but it really isn't on the inside. It's kind of a change but in a negative sense.

Julie (00:19:52): Americans use the idiom "putting lipstick on a pig." Adding lipstick doesn't change the pig. You can try to make something look different, but it's still the same thing.

Rick (00:20:01): Yeah, yeah. Let's look at this change distortion, because when we have a desire for change, one of two things can happen. That desire can get distorted and go in the wrong direction, or it can have a base in reality. Let's look at the distortion that can happen to this desire, this desired change.

Julie (00:20:23): Well, with a distortion, I'll put something on from the outside in to look the part that I claim to seek. Listen for the word "disguise" when I read 2 Corinthians 11:13-15: "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds." That's that negative way of transforming or changing. It's not really a transformation. Let's say I want to be a more faithful Christian. I'm going to bring my Bible to church on Sunday. Everyone's going to see that I'm taking notes, I'm really engaged, but I live my same old sinful life Monday through Saturday. There's no real transformation, just this act of going to church. It's good, but it's not going to make me more faithful all around. There's a lot more work to be done.

Rick (00:21:22): That's the outside in. I'm going to look the part, but I'm not going to become the part. Our desire for change has to be from the perspective of understanding I need to become something different, something higher, and I need to follow that path, not the path that you just read about the disguising. Let's look at the opposite. We've got a change distortion that you just talked about, Julie. Jonathan, let's look at, for desire, what a change reality would look like.

Jonathan (00:21:55): I will humbly approach my changes, realizing God knows my limitations. Romans 12:3: "For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith." What does sound judgment look like in our hearts? Hopefully we humbly ask ourselves, "Why has God called me and how can I use my abilities and improve to please him?"

Julie (00:22:29): There's a subtle point here. In addition to assessing ourselves in this honest way, the phrase "everyone among you" reminds me of the trial of comparison. I'll never be the Apostle Paul. I'll never even be Rick or Jonathan, and don't even get me started on how to become more Christlike. How do I think I could be more like Christ? Does God even compare us to others?

Rick (00:22:50): See, that's the point of this change reality, is humbly approaching our changes knowing our limitations. No, you know what? You can't be like Christ. You're never going to get there in this life. However, God did not call you to become something you're not capable of. He called you to fulfill the potential within Sister Julie. That's the whole point of the change reality, not get it distorted, but look at the reality to say, "The Father knows me and will help me grow into the more spiritually sound me." Let's look at that and let's look at the Biblical Principle of True Change right here. Jonathan, what do we have?

Jonathan (00:23:37): Desire. Whether our sought-after changes are alteration or abandoning issues, we need to focus our desire for the change based upon godly principles. To have a long laundry list of changes to work on is likely a recipe for failure. Let us instead prayerfully consider a few changes that we can focus more completely upon.

Rick (00:24:02): One of the big mistakes we make in deciding that okay, I need to grow up now, I need to change things, is we throw the entire self away, and then we try to change all of it and it's too much. What we want to do is, we want to understand that we have this desire to change, but let's realize that human nature works in steps. For us to go from where I was to where I am to where I can be-- those are steps right there--we need to work on the pieces. The desire is great, it's wonderful, but now we need to go a little bit more deeply into how does this happen. Let's go to our second piece, our second phase, if you will, of this whole change process. Change engages with recognition. It began with desire, and now it engages with recognition--recognition of who and recognition of what we have become subservient to. This is a big moment because we need to recognize reality. The necessary recognition for change is driven by seeking to understand and embrace my true place in reality. That sounds so overly philosophical, okay? We don't want to be overly philosophical, we want to be real here. I'm called by God to play a role in His plan within the brotherhood in Christ. What does that mean for me? Romans 12:5-8:

Jonathan (00:25:37): "...so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly; if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." The question we need to ask ourselves is, "Who am I in Christ?"

Rick (00:26:14): If you notice in that scripture, it didn't build these things one on top of another. It says one does this, one does that, one does this, one does that. It gives us permission to not be perfect, but it gives us motivation to find what we can do and do it with zeal and with diligence and with spirituality. That's the difference here.

Julie (00:26:35): We don't all contribute in the same way.

Rick (00:26:37): Right.

Julie (00:26:37): While I can't give a sermon, I can example one to those around me. I have a dear sister in Christ with extremely serious health problems that keeps her house bound. But with a few clicks on the keyboard, she's in Africa studying with other sisters. Every day she hand-writes cards of encouragement. They're sent all over the world. Her service is vibrant and contributory and done with cheerfulness. We can always do something.

Rick (00:27:02): And yet she's housebound.

Julie (00:27:03): That's right, and in pain all of the time.

Rick (00:27:07): So here is exactly what we're looking at. Let's take things and see the reality of what our opportunities are. Now, when we look for reality, it's easy for it to become distorted. We want to be careful about change distortion. Julie, where are we going with this?

Julie (00:27:24): I will seek to grow in Christ from a faulty and bloated perspective of my faith--that's distortion. Let's use the Corinthian church as an example. The brethren there had a lot of issues and one of them was spiritual pride, bragging about who they were following. Paul, Apollos, Peter. Paul's being sarcastic here in 1 Corinthians 4:8-10. He said: "You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor." That last verse in the New Living Translation says, "Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools (us the apostles), but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed."

Jonathan (00:28:31): The attitude of the Corinthians wasn't going to bring growth and change!

Julie (00:28:35): No. Wrong, wrong vision of themselves.

Rick (00:28:38): That's distortion. There's a distortion because they looked at themselves with the eyes of humanity rather than the eyes of spirituality. You've got that distortion when we're trying to acknowledge and understand where we're going. We're trying to recognize where we stand. Make sure that our recognition is true to God's viewpoint. Let's look at the other side of this. Let's look at a change reality in relation to recognition.

Jonathan (00:29:05): I see growth and change fully recognizing the role that my faulty humanity plays. Romans 6:16: "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?" The question for me is, am I a slave to feelings and preconceived ideas or a slave to truth? We just did two episodes about being biased. Our natural inclinations often lead us in the opposite direction of God's ways.

Rick (00:29:41): Those are change distortions. Bias brings us change distortions. The reality is saying, asking that really brutally difficult question, what am I a slave to? Look, and we are all slaves to other things. Let's cut through all of that. Let's not try to make ourselves look pretty like the Corinthians did. Let's understand that the reality is we have to know where it is we're trapped so we can break free. Julie, let's look at our next Biblical Principle of True Change.

Julie (00:30:13): It's recognition. If the change I seek requires me to abandon--this is that abandonment--parts of my past, may my recognition of it be sound and secure, and may I accept a potential need for help. Hard core sins are going to need help to change, often requiring transparent accountability to others in order to keep us walking the straight line.

Jonathan (00:30:35): If the change I seek is an alteration, let me maintain a brutal honesty, recognizing the depth and source of the issue at hand. Making these kinds of changes can be successfully and permanently made, step by small step, with desire, honesty and commitment.

Rick (00:30:52): Got to keep working on that. Either way though, whether it's abandonment that we need to be working on or alteration, either way, let me be steeped in reality, for that's where the Lord's hand, that in reality, true reality is where the Lord's hand can most easily reach me.

Jonathan (00:31:10): Let's circle back to our episode title. How much change is enough? Can it ever be enough if we're trying to have a Christlike character?

Rick (00:31:20): No, no, it can't ever be enough. But you don't look at that through the eyes of discouragement. You look at that through the eyes of blessing. Change, spiritual change is always a blessing from God, so let me rephrase that, Jonathan. Can God's blessings ever be enough? No, they can't, so let's look at our spiritual changes through those precise eyes. Sometimes we take the act of recognizing a problem for granted. We need to be sure that our recognition is based on truth, God's truth.

Jonathan (00:31:55): We are pursuing strong and productive change. What follows our desire to change and our recognition of our issues?

Rick (00:32:04): Taking these two steps is enormous progress if we take them with sincerity and honesty. The next step is logical. We need a plan, a method of attack to undo that which is not beneficial. We cannot stress enough that merely undoing something must always be followed by filling the gap that it leaves. Without replacement, any change we seek will simply fizzle away. Let me just say that again. Merely undoing something must always be followed by filling the gap that it left behind. This is part of the plan. We want to look at the change process. We looked at the desire and the recognition. Now let's go to the next piece. Change proceeds with planning. Intentional direction, inevitably, inevitably works better than emotional imagination and human desire.

Julie (00:33:07): That sounds like the "happily ever after" syndrome, fueled by seeing everyone's perfection on social media.

Rick (00:33:14): Yeah, yeah, perfection. Yeah, perfection my eye. Sorry-- everybody's manufactured perfection. We can't go there. Let's be driven by reality as we intentionally seek real, true change. Jonathan, Romans 12:4:

Jonathan (00:33:33): "For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function..."

Rick (00:33:39): There's a lot of difference going on here. We're unique. We can't be compared to one another and always because we're unique. That's what the apostle is telling us. Whether we're altering or abandoning something, our intention is revealed in our true desires. Let's go to our intention here; 1 Peter 2:1-2:

Jonathan (00:34:04): "Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander..." Let me pause here. Wow, that's a big list of put aside, covering a wide range of our natural human tendencies. Continuing: "...like newborn babes, long for (meaning to intensely crave) the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation." Just like the intensity of a newborn infant craving the milk from their mother, that's what we should be doing--craving God's word.

Rick (00:34:38): See, to get to that kind of intensity, you have to clear out everything else. With that newborn baby, all there is is hunger. That's all there is. That's all they know. If we are basking in our malice and deceit, hypocrisy and all those things, you don't have room for hunger. You're too busy with other things. Clean house! Let the house be cleaned out so we can make room for a spiritual home for our spiritual lives so we can crave the pure milk of the word.

Julie (00:35:11): One step that's practical to putting away hypocrisy, envy, slander, and so on, is encapsulated by a scripture I love, Proverbs 13:20: "Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble." That applies any age, young or old, virtual or in real life.

Rick (00:35:31): When we are looking to make real true change, we have to put the plan in place. When somebody's got a difficult, difficult challenge like an addiction and in working with things like that, what we need to understand is, you find the patterns that create the addictive behavior, and when you identify them, you change them. You don't say, "Okay, well next time when I walk by that bar, I'm not going to go in." No, next time you go completely around, and you go three blocks out of your way so you won't go in. It's a matter of making those changes. That's how we put a plan in place. We don't want to distort the changes to just make us feel good about, "Hey, I'm trying really hard." It's not about trying really hard. Let's take a look at change distortion in relation to our planning. What do we have?

Julie (00:36:23): Well, here's a distortion. "I follow Jesus, so I should be able to have what I want." An example of this is in Mark 10:35,37: "James and John, the two sons of Zebedee (and by the way, they were two of Jesus' closest friends) came up to Jesus, saying, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. They said to him, Grant that we may sit, one on your right and one on your left, in your glory." I mean, wow! "Do for us whatever we ask of you." This was a bold ask! Today we hear this, the same thing in the form of "decree and declare" or "name it and claim it" where people demand the holy spirit--God's power and influence--do something for them like make them rich, find their lost keys or bring them a spouse. Episode #1188, "Do We Have the Purpose of the Holy Spirit Backwards?" That's a good one to listen to for this.

Rick (00:37:17): Yeah, and all of those things are a distortion of the plan for growing into Christlikeness. This request of James and John, it showed a simple lack of maturity. Those other things you mentioned, Julie, were not just merely a lack of maturity, they were brashness because they didn't know yet. They didn't know. You have this lack of maturity, this childlike lack of maturity because our imagination and human desires can hijack our change. They distort it and we get lost. We need to look at the planning for our changes through the eyes of real, true reality. Jonathan, let's look at a change reality in relation to planning:

Jonathan (00:37:57): I am called to serve, not to dictate. That is what Jesus did. Let me condescend to Jesus' kind of service and leave the rest to God.

Rick (00:38:07): You know what? Jesus condescended to washing their feet, he condescended to crucifixion, unlawfully, without reason except for the fact that he was willing to give his life. Let us condescend to that kind of an attitude. What does Jesus do with this bold ask of James and John? He handles this childish request. He didn't yell at them. He handled it with grace and love. Let's look at Mark 10:38-40:

Jonathan (00:38:37): "But Jesus said to them, You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They said to him, We are able. And Jesus said to them, The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. But to sit on my right or on my left, this is not mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." The answer from Jesus to them was not what they asked for, but it was better. His answer was, you are going to experience things I experience. You will grow up and learn to be like me. You will live a life of sacrifice by doing God's will and not your own.

Rick (00:39:20): His answer to them really was, you're going to become mature. I'm not going to give you something for nothing. You're going to become mature, and it will completely fundamentally change who you are, and that fundamental change will bless others. That's better. I vote for that one. As we look at change and planning, it's really a good idea, really a good idea to write down our plan. This helps to seal our intentions and the scriptures actually tell us to do that in a theoretical way. Habakkuk 2:2:

Jonathan (00:39:53): "Then the LORD answered me and said, Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run."

Julie (00:40:01): We can write down our goals in the form of our written prayers too, just add our goals there. It's something I want to get better at doing. I found a great article in Forbes Magazine called, "Neuroscience Explains Why You Need to Write Down Your Goals if You Actually Want to Achieve Them." Here's a quote: "Vividly describing your goals in written form is strongly associated with goal success, and people who very vividly describe or picture their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish their goals than people who don't." The article went on to say that when you write something down, not only do you have that visual reminder that's in front of you, but it also helps with encoding. Encoding is where the brain decides what's going to get stored in long-term memory. Your memory also improves when you are the one physically doing the writing or the typing rather than just read it from a source. Write these goals down. It's a good practical way to look at them and check your progress.

Rick (00:41:01): We want to put a plan in place. Look, it doesn't have to be a 74-page plan. It needs to just help us understand the fundamental issues that we're working with and working on and working towards. When we look at the idea of change proceeding with planning, what's the Biblical Principle of True Change that we are looking at here, Jonathan?

Jonathan (00:41:24): Intentional direction. Every aspect of God's plan is filled with intentional direction. Whether we are abandoning extreme sin or altering our approach to further progress, let us not minimize the power of true godly intention. Godly intention opens the door to God's providence.

Rick (00:41:42): That's such an important point. Those of us who who go about trying to "decree and declare," you are not opening the door to God's providence. You are walking away from God's providence because that is not a scriptural approach. We can't distort it. We have to be in reality. Intentional direction based on God's word; that's where we look at the planning. Let's go further. We've got planning, what comes next? Well, change will actually now grow with accountability. Change proceeds with planning and now it grows with accountability. Let's drive our accountability by acknowledging excellence. Acknowledge something very high and lofty because that gives you something to really look up to. Romans 12:9-13:

Jonathan (00:42:30): "Let love (that's agape or selfless love) be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality." This scripture made me think of my New Year's resolution. I want each day to be purposeful. I want to let each day begin ready to do God's will with my words, my thoughts and my actions. This automatically takes distortions or things of no value and pushes them away. I want to ask each morning, what can I do to bless others?

Julie (00:43:19): That's beautiful! So the word in front of your mind is "purposeful." That's interesting because on our last episode, #1316 about bias, I talked about the word that keeps following me is "irrelevant," because I see what other people are doing. I just want to focus on how I'm supposed to think, speak and act. What others do is irrelevant. I don't want to do what they're doing if they're doing something wrong.

Rick (00:43:42): You have "purposeful" and "irrelevant." Well, you know what? They sound like opposites, but they actually work precisely together because to be purposeful in Christlikeness is to make the world around us irrelevant. It's the same thing from different sides. Both of you have picked words that really are motivators when they're put in their appropriate place. We want to be really clear on that. Now we're looking at the idea, the idea of accountability. Let's look at a distortion, a change distortion in regards to this.

Julie (00:44:19): Okay, well that would be, "I know I'm accountable, but...!" We're going to look at the Parable of the Talents. The master gives each of his servants a large sum of money to work with while he's away. He comes back, he rewards those who multiplied the money. But the one who did nothing with it made excuses. Matthew 25:24-25: "And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours." Well, he had the same accountability as the other servants, but he didn't want to do the work. He blamed his boss for why he buried the talent he was given. We don't want to put our responsibilities on someone else, and we certainly don't want to have a bunch of excuses for God and Jesus when they ask why we didn't strive to change.

Jonathan (00:45:18): Realistically, you know, realistically our desire to change could be thwarted by any number of excuses including procrastination, surrendering because it's just too difficult or even stalling by having to keep gathering information before actually doing anything about the problem.

Julie (00:45:35): That last one's a big one. Here's a quote about the power of procrastination from John Maxwell: "Procrastination is often disguised as rational thinking. It ends up a welcome response when disguised this way because it feeds our desire for inaction and seems to give us great reasons for doing nothing..."

Rick (00:45:55): That's a change distortion when it comes to being accountable, because accountability implies action and implies doing that needs to be checked. We need to be doing. Let's look at a change reality in relation to accountability. Jonathan?

Jonathan (00:46:13): Because what I have been given is so far beyond me, I am gladly accountable, no matter what. Now Luke 19 tells the story of Zaccheus, an unpopular tax collector working for the Roman government. He went to great lengths to see Jesus, who acknowledged him and stayed at his house. Zaccheus was so overjoyed that we read this in verses 8-9: "Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much. And Jesus said to him. Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham."

Julie (00:46:57): No one demanded he give any money back. But he demonstrated the change he experienced by giving back half of what he legitimately earned and four times what he got by cheating the people.

Jonathan (00:47:07): What a beautiful example of making things right.

Julie (00:47:09): He made his past right so that his future could be open to the joy of following Jesus. That's something we can all think about.

Rick (00:47:17): That's a change reality when it comes to accountability. Let's put this together; Biblical Principles of True Change. Where are we, Julie?

Julie (00:47:27): Accountability. If we are abandoning deep sins, accountability is crucial. That not only includes self-accountability by measuring ourselves in practical ways, but also being accountable to someone else. This needs to be set up with care and high levels of understanding, compassion and trust.

Jonathan (00:47:44): If our changes are of the alteration kind, accountability to God is critical and accountability to another Christian brother or sister may be helpful. Questioning a need for brotherly accountability is a good indicator that it may be helpful and needed.

Rick (00:48:03): That's the very thing we don't want! "Do I need to tell anybody about this? Nah, I think I'll just keep it to myself!" Yeah, maybe we do. Maybe we do. Because that extra level of accountability is a motivator. You have to find the right kind of person that you can really lean on to be encouraging even if we fall down on things. But this is change reality because accountability will drive us toward successful change in Christ. Accountability is really hard for most of us. What if we don't do what we said we would do? Well that's the whole point of being accountable. Don't lose that.

Jonathan (00:48:40): So far, we have put all of the work steps in place for the changes we seek to spiritually achieve. Where do we go from here?

Rick (00:48:49): Having these steps in place is crucial to our making change real and lasting. What comes next can be summed up in one simple phrase: persistent effort and dogged determination. That's it. That's really what it boils down to. Once we put the process in place, we simply need to follow through again and again and again and again and again and again. You get the point. And again! Successful change in Christ is a journey, a fruitful and fulfilling journey. We've got accountability in place. Now let's go onto the next piece. Change is growing right before our eyes. We're onto the fifth phase of change, and here change matures. Okay, change can grow with accountability. It matures with new habits. Let's continually drive these new habits forward by focusing on how they bring us closer to the selfless dedication we need to follow Christ. What do we need to follow Christ? Selfless dedication. Let's look at Romans 12:14-18:

Jonathan (00:50:02): "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

Julie (00:50:06): That's selflessness.

Jonathan (00:50:08): "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep."

Julie (00:50:11): That's selflessness.

Jonathan (00:50:12): "Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly."

Julie (00:50:19): Selflessness.

Jonathan (00:50:20): "Do not be wise in your own estimation."

Julie (00:50:23): Selflessness.

Jonathan (00:50:24): "Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men."

Julie (00:50:30): That is definitely selflessness.

Jonathan (00:50:32): "If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men."

Julie (00:50:37): Selflessness. Do you see the theme here? Selflessness!

Jonathan (00:50:41): This describes the selfless character of Christ. This is the level we want to reach.

Rick (00:50:48): Do we have any scriptural examples that show us what selflessness is? I just want to know. I mean, you look at that and you realize that selflessness is written all over the New Testament. It really truly is if we are willing to understand it. The change can mature with that selfless dedication. Because it can mature, let's automatically say, okay, where can it go wrong? What would be a change distortion in this area of change maturing with new habits?

Julie (00:51:16): Well, if we say something to ourselves like, "Well I try, but I'm not as strong as God wants me to be. I just can't do it." It's so easy to take a small statement of scripture and flash it as proof of our unworthy feelings. A scripture like Romans 3:23: "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." I'm unworthy. And a scripture like Isaiah 64:6: "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." We could say, "I'm just too far gone before God and should just disappear."

Jonathan (00:51:56): This distortion is insidious, even in those with great spiritual growth and maturity and a strong track record of service. They don't rise up to the next level. Satan wins in that kind of distortion.

Julie (00:52:10): We have to tell ourselves, "Of course I'm not worthy. That's what being covered by the robe of Christ righteousness is all about."

Rick (00:52:18): Thank God we're not worthy because then we can grow. It really comes down to going back to that first scripture from the Apostle Paul. He is boasting about his weaknesses because that's where Christ's strength replaces. That's where it brings him up. That's what makes him change. That's what makes him grow. So, don't get stuck in the distortion of, "I just can't." God would not have called you if that was the case. Period! We have to not distort it. We have to look at the change reality in relation to change maturing with new habits. Jonathan, what is that?

Jonathan (00:52:58): God is compassionate and measures us based on our true effort and not based on our self-imposed definition of success. God can use me if I accept the reality of His providence. Romans 8:28: "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." We make the effort, and God blesses the effort as He sees fit. What I consider "success" likely isn't God's definition.

Rick (00:53:31): That's so huge. That is so amazing. What I consider "failure" often isn't God's definition either because He sees the effort, He sees the heart and we tend to overlook those things, but we have to rely on our heavenly Father. He wouldn't give a promise like Romans 8:28 if He wasn't serious. God is committed. He is committed. You know what commitment means? Commitment means you are stuck on something and you're not letting go. He is committed to our spiritual changes. He will back His commitment. Romans 8:31-35. Listen to God's commitment and how strong it is. Go ahead Jonathan:

Jonathan (00:54:11): "...if God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will He not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"

Rick (00:54:50): Now you look at this verse and you see this power of God's commitment, but just want to notice one thing here. "Who is the one who condemns?" Then the Apostle Paul writes, "Christ Jesus is he who died." Then he says something else. He says, "Yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us." He's saying he died, and a lot of times we look at that and we end the statement. But he's saying no, he was raised and he sits at the "right hand of God." Because he's right next to the Father, he "intercedes for us." God is committed to us because of that process. That's the change reality that we can rely on. Jesus knows our frame. He knows what it's like to be human. That's the beauty of the change reality in relation to maturing as we develop these new habits. Let's put this together; Biblical Principles of True Change. Jonathan, where are we?

Jonathan (00:55:44): New habits. Every faithful Christian must undoubtedly develop new, Christlike habits. When abandoning our sinful flesh, these habits are utterly life changing. When altering our approaches to life through Christ, these habits are what crystallize our characters.

Rick (00:56:01): You have the abandoning. When you abandon your old earthly habits, it changes your life. It absolutely changes your life. When you alter things to go higher, it crystallizes your character. You see how the two work absolutely in tandem. Change matures with new habits. The final phase of change is: change becomes reality with time. It becomes reality. It becomes the habit. It becomes the way we are. Focusing with simplicity and with clarity drives these new habits into being. Let's look at a really simple scripture here. Romans 12:21:

Jonathan (00:56:40): "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Rick (00:56:45): You look at all the scriptures that we've talked about through this entire episode and you can sum them up with that verse, because through the strength of God through Christ, "do not be overcome with evil." That means we take away all of the excuses, all of the distortions and all of those things, and we can "overcome evil with good." That's the reality we want to live in Christ. Be aware, change becoming a reality with time can be distorted here, as well. Julie, what kind of distortion might we be seeing here?

Julie (00:57:20): Well, that's when we say, "I've worked and I've attained. I have done well, I can rest." This speaks to our title's question about how much change is enough? Are we ever done? We're going to look at Revelation 3. Revelation 3 describes seven literal, established churches of the time symbolically describing the condition of the followers of Jesus throughout the whole age of the gospel message being proclaimed. The message to the last church of Laodicea corresponds to our time now. Revelation 3:15-19; here's the charge: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot." That refers to the spiritual condition and the danger of complacency. Continuing with verse 16: "So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Because you say, I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent."

Rick (00:58:42): Here, when we're looking at the distortion, it's the comfortability of "I've arrived, I'm doing well. I'm really in pretty good shape. You know I used to be there, but look at me now." We just need to be careful because here's the thing we should be replacing that with. Instead of saying, "Look at me now," maybe we should ask ourselves the question, "How well can you see Christ in me now?" Because that's really where we're going. That's why none of this, we want to ever, ever sit back and relax. Complacency is the enemy of true spiritual change.

Jonathan (00:59:20): Should we ever be complacent? No, of course not. There is always room for growth. Now the Pharisees had the attitude that no one except them was good enough. Only they were right with God. We should never go there.

Rick (00:59:34): No, no, no. To be complacent is to turn our back on our heavenly Father through Christ. It truly, truly is. We've got to remember that. Let's now focus in on the change reality. That's the distortion. What's the reality here? It's hard work toward godly change, and that is our lifelong challenge and lifelong blessing. There are two pieces to this--challenge and blessing. Let's take a look at lifelong challenge. Philippians 3:13-14:

Jonathan (01:00:08): "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Paul is saying, I will not stop.

Rick (01:00:26): Nor should he stop. There's great blessing in that because you're always extending yourself a little further. In my own experience, in my own life, I learn the most when I get extended beyond where I used to be extended. You learn something new, something greater in the service of our heavenly Father. The challenge is always going to be there. That's a good thing, because along with the challenge, the blessing is always going to be there. Let's finish with Romans 8:37-39:

Jonathan (01:01:00): "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Rick (01:01:22): That's a list of things that can't touch you. That's a list of when we engage in spiritual change and we understand the distortions and we work and hold onto the realities, those are the things that won't bring you down. The one thing that's not on that list is me. I can reverse all of that. I can open the door for Satan to take and go to work on things. We need to be careful that we keep the challenge in front of us and we keep the blessings at hand. Jonathan, finally, our Biblical Principles of True Change. Where have we ended?

Jonathan (01:02:01): The permanent reality of godly change. Change, especially godly change, can feel overwhelming, but it really isn't. When abandoning our dark sins, this change brings relief, joy, satisfaction and God's peace as we continually do the work. The changes we make to alter the way we approach our lives brings us true maturity in Christ. The truth is, we cannot have one without the other! Thank God for His mercy, wisdom and providence! Well, Rick and Julie, if God called us, we are worthy. Let's work towards that worthiness. God doesn't look at us through rose-colored glasses. He sees Jesus's blood-stained sacrifice which covers us. He's not making light of our weaknesses. He wants us to be melded and worked into something that can become glorious.

Rick (01:03:00): That's amazing. You know why that's amazing? Because that's what's offered to every single, truly called Christian to follow Christ. If you're called to follow Christ and given God's spirit, that's what the offer is. Change becomes a very critical, critical part of how we get there. Folks, you can't get there by staying where you begin. You have to get there by taking the steps, by putting away the distortions, by holding onto the realities and step by step, abandon those things that need to be abandoned. Alter those things that need to be altered. Rise up to a level that God can use you in a way that you never thought possible. It can happen if we rely on the word of God and on Christ as our advocate. Think about it. Folks, we love hearing from our listeners. We welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other episodes at ChristianQuestions.com. Coming up in our next episode, we begin a two-part series. "What did Jesus Really Think of the Pharisees?" We'll talk to you about that next week.

Final Notes (01:04:08): copyright @2024 Christian Questions. In addition to this transcript, we provide comprehensive CQ Rewind Show Notes for every episode. They include every scripture quoted during the podcast, as well as graphics, illustrations and bonus material. Click the "CQ Rewind Show Notes" button near the audio player or sign up to receive these weekly at ChristianQuestions.com. This transcript was created using artificial intelligence. While we believe it to be accurate, we apologize for any errors that may exist.