40 Days of Prayer

A Transformation of Character

  
"The young man said to him, "All these I have kept. What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." Matthew 19:20-22 ESV

"The young man has come wanting fulfillment. He wants his life to be complete....He knows he is still "lacking" something, and he is looking for a goal, a completion. Jesus suggests that he needs turning inside out. His life is to become part of a larger outward-looking purpose: he is to put God's kingdom first, and put his neighbor (especially his poor neighbor) before his own fulfillment and prospects. Here is the real challenge: not just to add one or two more commandments, to set the moral bar a little higher, but to become a different sort of person altogether. Jesus is challenging the young man to a transformation of character." N.T. Wright, After You Believe

Why is change so hard? Why are we so resistant to it? Maybe it is because we become comfortable and this comfort allows us to rest from our striving. Change demands that we redo, reexamine, recreate, and/or re-energize. Just typing it sounds exhausting and overwhelming. The young man in Matthew's gospel sincerely wants to please God. He simply is asking Jesus how to do that. How many times have you prayed, "Lord, just show me your will"? Are we like the young man who does not really want the answer he received? Jesus' call to "Follow me" requires more than simply following the rules, looking good on the outside, and being comfortable. He wants our character to be transformed, our hearts sacrificed.

Being a part of the Grace Redeemer church plant has not afforded many of us comfort. It certainly has not come without lots of change that includes, redoing, reexamining, recreating, and re-energizing! As we work and strive to plant this church, may God be working within each one of us a transformed heart and may we listen and answer to the Spirit working within us.