Life Changing Transformation

A guy smokes a pack of cigarettes a day for 60 years. One day he goes to the doctor to get a routine physical. The doctor tells him that there is a 99% chance that he will die in a month if he doesn't stop smoking that very day. Unless the guy has a death wish he goes home and immediately throws all of his cigarettes away. Same thing if the doctor had told him that he had high cholesterol he would have gone home and thrown away all of the Crispy Creme Donuts. Those are both pretty big lifestyle changes.

Everyday when you drive to school you go like 25mph over the limit because you are late. Then you get pulled over and get a warning. For the rest of the day you actually drive under the speed limit. At school 5 people told you that they liked the shirt that you wore. The funny thing is that you found the shirt in your basement and only wore it because all of your other close were in the washing machine. After the compliments though it just became your favorite shirt. Lifestyles and fashion tastes can change pretty fast under the right circumstances.

For the month of January we are going to be talking about our personality and lifestyle as a church. We are going to be discussing our Identity as Christ-Followers. This Sunday the focus is Lifechange. Basically, If we believe that Jesus did what he said he could in our lives, then there should be some noticeable changes. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." Basically, God is making us into new creations. The transformation should be noticeable too. No one would mistake an axe murderer for a Christian. How do we look different though? What change happened inside of us that is evident to people we come in contact with?

Last night, my wife Alicia and I were talking about this. We talked about how interesting it was that we have committed our lives to Christ, but our lives don't always reflect that committment. Sometimes life change is really noticeable and at other points its not really. That led me to think of another questions as I write my message for this Sunday. What does lifechange look like when its exhibited in all aspects of your life? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts...