We need to constantly renew in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth

Welcome, dear readers, to our column “Daily word for spiritual strength”! I thank God for each of you and I pray, so that you remain thirsty for His word and thirsty for His wisdom because He is the source of life.After yesterday´s reading we know that in Christ we are a new creation and the old body has died. We also concluded that God´s desire is to transform us in the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. In order to become more and more like Jesus we need to constantly«renew in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth». If we don´t do that, the old nature will continue to lead us to our old lusts, regardless of the fact that we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. If we stop renewing our minds, we will continue to act as if we were not in Christ yet. That will cause those watching us to get disappointed in christian faith. In opposite, we have to be the light and a salt for this world.What do our colleagues, neighbours and business partners think of us as believers? Quite often we have close relationships with people of this world, but do they notice a difference in our behaviour, our attitude and speech, our honesty and goodness or they ask themselves a question: “what a difference between us and those who call themselves believers if they live the same way we do?” If we refuse to get rid of our old man we are in danger to become a stumbling block for other people. In this case they would not accept from us the advice like: “come to Jesus, He will change you!” They would rather reply to us: “If God cannot change you, how can He change me? First, show us how God has changed you, then invite us to follow Him!”This is one of the reasons why some believers do not preach the Gospel nor ever witness about their faith in Jesus. The way they reason is: “How can preach the Gospel when I am not changed myself?” Even though, I must warn you from misunderstanding, because Jesus didn´t say: “Stand by and wait until you get changed and become perfect, only then go and preach the Gospel!” Jesus said that He would change us and make us fishers for men in the process of following Him. 

«Walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers: Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men.”». (Matthew 4:18-19).

 If we never stop following Jesus, He will change us making those changes more and more obvious in our lives and for the people around us.The fact that we have become believers yet doesn´t mean we have become perfect. That´s why we should not represent ourselves as such in front of other people. Surely we are not perfect. We are still undergoing improvement process. We are still under process of changes as we follow Jesus and submit ourselves to His Spirit. God changes us as we renew our mind and put aside our old man, as we deny ourselves and carry the cross. All these things have an impact on us helping us to behold the glory of the Lord. 

«But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.».(2nd Corinthians 3:18).

 We are being transformed from glory to glory. We become completely different people by moving from one level to another, higher level. If we follow all these directions then people around us watching us will be able to see these changes.We are still imperfect, still different from the likeness of Jesus Christ, but we are in the process and on the way that leads and makes us more like Him. People we work together with and whom we testify about Christ should know it.Which one of you desires to glorify the Lord in His life? What is the best way to do it? Only by letting Him change us! God eagerly desires to change us. Let´s reply to His call by doing all we have to do in order to make our life changed and transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ! See you tomorrow!Be abundantly blessed!Rufus Adjiboje, pastor