Change Me..... Part One

          Lights, camera, action!  You are the up and coming star in a new reality TV show.  Cameras will be on you 24/7 from here on out.  You are required by contract to be 100% yourself for the next year.  You have to talk, dress, and interact with others just like you would if there was no camera crew following you around. 

          Now, reality is that the chances of one of us being on a reality TV show is small, but think about it really hard.  What kind of person would you show the world if you had a camera following you around all the time? 

          I was walking into work tonight and this question presented itself to me.  I feel that as a Christian I would like to think that I would show good qualities to the world, but the truth is none of us are perfect.  However, I feel like this was a challenge to me.  This was God saying, “Okay Kris, Here is your chance.  What are you going to show the world?”

          Jesus says in John 15:13, "I have given you an example, that as I have done, so should you do.”  Right in the bible it tells you how you should act at all times.  We are supposed to be imitators of Christ.  We are to act like Jesus acted.  Now how did Jesus act?  The first step to finding out is to read His Word.  When you read the bible and you hide the scripture in your heart, it becomes easier to live a good Christian life.  Your mind is on God and his ways become your ways.  So my challenge is:  How do I imitate Christ? 

·        Surrender completely to God

·        Be Righteous and Holy

·        Gain freedom from the world

·        Die to self

·        Walk the Talk

·        Endure Trials, Tribulations, and Temptation

·        Embody the Fruits of the Spirit

·        Walk in the Light

SURRENDER COMPLETELY TO GOD:

          Lesson One, Kristine controls nothing.  You control nothing.  God is the creator, the producer, the manager, He is the everything. The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  No matter how much I think I control my life, I don’t.  We have the freedom of free-will, but still that only goes so far.  Eventually, God is going to come looking for us.  And guess what?  No matter how far off the path we have gotten He is still going to love us.  He is going to take us in hand and take care of everything if we let him.  IF. 

          To surrender to something or to someone you have to give up everything.  You abandon what you want; to do what they want.  The they in this, being the Lord.  You submit.  You yield. 

          In order to surrender to God you have to trust Him.  You have to believe what He says he is going to do.  You have to believe that He is who he says He is.  The key to that is that you have to stop being afraid.  Let go and have faith that He will catch you.  No one likes a micromanager.  So stop being the micromanager of your life.  God is equipped to run our lives.  His way is the best way for us.  It will be hard at first, but very worth it in the end.

BE RIGHTEOUS AND HOLY

          Lesson Two, when the time comes will I do what is right? Will I be pure?  Basically, what are my morals and what are your morals?  Can we distinguish between what is right and wrong?  Can we live according to God’s purpose? 

          That is a lot to ask someone.  Can this be done?  Jesus did it.  He was free from sin.  He walked in Holiness and Righteousness at all times.  The next thing I want to throw at you is that when you don’t know what you’re not supposed to do; you can’t be held accountable for your actions because of your ignorance.  As Christians, we have a guide book, a play book, so to speak.  Everything we are supposed to do is there for us, mapped out.  Think about this, if you could MapQuest the directions on how to live in righteousness and holiness, where would you start?   Here is a clue: “The Bible tells me so, “I learned that verse in Sunday school.  SO, if I start at the bible and I read my scripture, I will end up being Christ-like.  Sounds so easy and it is.

          It’s almost like fried chicken.  Ha ha.  It’s the southerner coming out in me.  You get your meat.  You season it.  You pour the flour in a bag and you shake it up.  You put it in the grease and you let it cook.  You fry it to perfection, not to short of a time and not too long.  You take it out and its soooo good.  Now I want you to work with me, because I know someone is like this girl is crazy.  How do you compare living a righteous life to frying some chicken?  I’ll tell you.

          The meat is you.  You find Jesus and want to live a good Christian life.  So, you go to church, you fellowship with other Christians, you start cutting out the worldly things in your life.  You start reading your bible.  This is the seasoning.  Then life starts to get a little rough.  The Devil knows that you are in God’s kingdom, so he is going to shake it up.  He is going to try to shake your faith.  But if you hold on, your heavenly Father will take you out of the flour.  Now just because God’s hand is on you doesn’t mean that life will miraculously become easy, or free from trials.  This is when the meat is put in the grease.  God knows just how much you can take.  When it is His time for things to change he will take you out of the grease.  We all know that there is no such thing as perfection on this earth.  But if you keep your faith and live righteously, in the end perfect you will be.  See I told you, just like frying chicken.