ALL OF US HAVE PRACTICED certain areas of wrong from our youth. It is a pattern of life that comes "second nature" to us. As a result, it strongly resists change. We gloss over our resistance with the varnish of excuses:
"Well, nobody's perfect."
"I'll never be any different; that's just the way I am."
"I was born this way—nothing can be done about it."
"You can't teach an old dog new tricks."
Jeremiah tells us why such excuses come easily:
I warned you when you were prosperous, but you replied, "Don't bother me." You have been that way since childhood—you simply will not obey me!
We have made doing evil a pattern, a habit. In one sense, we have learned to act and react in sinful, unbiblical ways with ease and (dare I admit it?) with a measure of pleasure. Admittedly, there are many times we do so unconsciously; and on those occasions, the depth of our habit pattern is most revealing.
It is vital—it is, in fact, essential—that we see ourselves as we really are in the light of God's written Word . . . then be open to change where change is needed. The number-one enemy of change is the hard-core, satisfied sin nature within. It has been gratified and spoiled all these years, and it won't give up without a temper tantrum. Change is its greatest threat. Change must be allowed to face and conquer the intimidations of inward habit—and I repeat the warning, it will never be an easy confrontation.
But because of Christ, we are already in the process of being made new!
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
That's the way God sees you—a new person with a brand-new nature. Why don't you start living that way . . . today, if you're ready for real change!
Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord . . . Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved. The full devotional can be purchased at tyndale.com or wherever books are sold.
Used with permission. All rights reserved.
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