People influence us but only God can change us.
After Andrew and Peggy married and established a home in London, they had to make a decision about where to attend church. “God led us to a group of believers that met simply in a home.” Over the years, the group has grown in number and now meets in a grammar school, the place Susan and I visited Palm Sunday.
Andrew shared, “These brothers and sisters really knew the Holy Spirit. When I was filled with the Spirit, I was changed; I have never been the same.”
God’s goal is not that we just be influenced; He plans to change us. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Man is often content to focus on exterior matters, but God is after the heart. Some of the early Christians were taught that in order to be justified before God they had to be circumcised. Paul passionately argued that true faith in Jesus alone brought the righteousness that pleased God. “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.” A ‘cutting away’ takes place, but it is an ‘inner work’ done by Christ, not man. “In him (Christ) you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ…” “…circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.”
This ‘heart work’ was predicted by Jeremiah in the days of old: “I will put my laws in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.”
Only the Holy Spirit can bring about the miracle of a changed person. Through this gift we can love, serve, and live the abundant life Jesus calls us to live. “God has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” And by this gift we come as beloved children to our loving Father. “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’”
“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:25-26
“But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” John 16:7