Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
One of the prayers that I've always prayed is: Lord, change me and mold me into Your image. I prayed that when I got saved, and little did I know that my transformation would actually be pretty slow. Honestly, sometimes it's frustrating because I can wonder: I need to be way farther along by now. How can I still be struggling with so-and-so?
God Makes You Holy
One of the most encouraging verses in the entire Bible is our Verse of the Day.
It's 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23. This is Paul's prayer for the Thessalonian church, and this is my prayer for every listener: "Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again."
The reason I love this verse is because, first, it tells us that the God of peace will make us holy. The responsibility for change is not on me—it's on God.
Now, does that mean I don't fight sin? Absolutely not. I need to kill sin so that it doesn't kill me. I need to be on guard. I need to identify the things that trigger me. I must have a game plan to kill sin in my life.
Transformation, Not Behavior Modification
But Christianity is not about behavior modification. It's actually about falling in love with the Lord, falling in love with the God of peace who can, it says, make you holy in every way. He's the one that makes me holy.
My job is simple. It's to abide in the Lord. That means, as I spend time in the Word, as I spend time in prayer, as I have connections with my community, my church, God will slowly transform me from the inside out.
We Are Like Trees
It's interesting. The Bible compares us Christians to trees. I love that because trees take time to grow. The Bible doesn't say that we are like bamboo. Bamboo can grow like seven feet in one day. But trees, man, it takes time.
You and I are like trees where, when we slowly abide in the Lord every day—every day when I make a decision to abide in the Lord, He slowly conforms me into His image.
The Whole Person Made Blameless
Then He says: "And may your whole spirit"—that's my relationship with the Lord—"my soul"—that's my emotions—"my body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again."
He's speaking of the whole body, my mind, my will, my emotions. It says that God will help me to be blameless.
God's Grip Holds Us
Here's the thing. Sometimes we think our grip on the Lord is what will keep us till the end, but it's actually God's grip on us that will hold us to the end.
Sometimes I wonder, talking to myself: Val, will you finish your race well on this earth?
This verse is very encouraging because I don't have to put the responsibility on me to finish. All I have to do is abide and keep my eyes on the Lord.
God Will Make It Happen
The next verse is even more encouraging. It says: "God will make this happen, for He who calls you is faithful."
The promise that we have is that God will make it happen. See, salvation is started with grace and is going to end with grace. Salvation didn't start with works and then it's going to end with grace. No, no, no—it started with grace and it will end by the grace of God.
