Cut to the quick, those who were there listening asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?"
Peter said, "Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites."
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"Their first response surged from deep within their hearts: "What shall we do?" As a result, there came about a complete transformation of people's inner being,a reshaping of their lives, which was the very change of heart and conduct that John the Baptist had proclaimed. He had seen it as the first requirement for the great revolution to come, the turning upside down of everything. Personal rebirth could not be separated from this total transformation in Christ."
~Taken from "Spirit of Fire" by Eberhard Arnold, Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter. 2003, The Plough Publishing House, Farmington, PA., p. 397.
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Although we are still sinners after God reveals His truth to us, the touch of the Holy Spirit should bring about a change in our hearts and minds. The change impacts our motives, our desires and where we focus our energies. It's not just about "me" anymore. Christ becomes bigger and more important to us than our own gratification.
- Do you sense this touch of the Spirit in your life?
- How have you seen this change work itself out?
- If you haven't seen a change, what do you think is happening?
- What do you want to happen?
- Have you seen the touch of the Spirit in our Living Room Community?
- If so, how?
Another Steven Curtis Chapman song from his Speechless CD came to mind as I was writing this:
The Change
{II Corinthians 5:17, 3:18}
Well I got myself a T-shirt that says what I believe
I got letters on my bracelet to serve as my ID
I got the necklace and the keychain
And almost everything a good Christian needs, yeah
I got the little Bible magnets on my refrigerator door
And a welcome mat to bless you before you walk across my floor
I got a Jesus bumper sticker
And the outline of a fish stuck on my car
And even though this stuff’s all well and good, yeah
I cannot help but ask myself
What about the change
What about the difference
What about the grace
What about forgiveness
What about a life that’s showing
I’m undergoing the change, yeah
I’m undergoing the change
Well I’ve got this way of thinking that comes so naturally
Where I believe the whole world is revolving around me
And I got the way of living that I have to die to every single day
‘Cause if God’s Spirit lives inside of me, yeah
I’m gonna live life differently
I’m gonna have the change
I’m gonna have the difference
I’m gonna have the grace
I’m gonna have forgiveness
I’m gonna live a life that’s showing
I’m undergoing the change.
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And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 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. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
~2 Corinthians 5:15-20 [New International Version]
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Please share your thoughts and comments...
2 comments:
Recently, I have been contemplating how God has helped Living Room grow.
I have to admit there have been several times through out the process of forming an intentional christian community that I have tried to make it more than it is...
With every expectation comes disapointment when the expectation is not attained.
Now I look at Living Room for what it is: A gift from God. Relationships brought together to experience the family of God in conversation, communion and service with one another, in our glocal context.
So I have scene the Spirit work in the lives of everyone over this past year, but I would have to talk through each individual to explain how and where I see the Spirit work.
Glory to the Father, Son and Spirit...
What struck me with this is how against our natures this command truly is. Making a change to direct our lives toward Christ is impossibly radical ... without the Holy Spirit. It brought to mind some of the questions and answers in the Heidelberg Catechism, specifically #4-5:
4.Q.What does God's law require of us?
A.Christ teaches us this in a summary in Matthew 22: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.1 This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.
5.Q. Can you keep all this perfectly?
A. No, I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor.
Strong language, "hate," but it drives the point home that because of sin we don't want our lives to change. It becomes a discipline, in a way, that we cannot do on our own but only by the Holy Spirit. Interesting topic.
(We have that CD too -- good one).
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