Changing

TITLE: Changing
DATE:  January 9, 2020
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Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed.

TEXT: 1 Corinthians 6:20  - ESV - 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Did you ever take out a camera and, unexpectedly, point it at a crowd of people?

• Usually: there are some strange reactions. Some people look away and pretend to be busy doing something else. They act as if the camera isn't there. But you can see them watch you out of the corner of their eye.
• Other people will turn their heads away, put them down, and almost seem to shrivel up inside themselves. "Get that thing out of my face", is what some folks mutter.
• Children, on the other hand, especially very young children, frequently become Shakespearean actors as they put on the performances of their lives. It is only when they hit that special time right before the teen age years when they become extremely self-conscious and flee from the camera.

lf you want to see an even stranger event, show your pictures to the same people who are in these photos.

None of them will like what they see. They will think themselves too fat, too skinny, too short, too tall, their complexion is bad, their eyes don't match, their hair is too thick, too thin. Noses are too large or small, has a hook or is recessed. Their chins are weak or too strong. I may not have hit their every weakness, but that weakness is there.

Actually they have many weaknesses... and those weaknesses they are not all on the outside. The really bad weakness’ come from our hearts, our minds and tongues. We are sinners.

What is absolutely amazing to me is that God has always been able to take such ridiculous, foolish, feeble, sinful people and use them for His purpose. In the Old Testament the Lord speaks to the young boy Samuel. He calls Samuel from the humdrum life as a servant and transforms him into a mighty prophet. God does that in spite of the fact that Samuel was a sinner.

Elsewhere in Scripture you will find the same action repeated. Abraham is transformed from a shepherd to the father of nations. He took stuttering Moses and makes him into the leader of the Exodus. He took woman-crazy Samson and makes him into a tool for vengeance upon His enemies. David no longer is just a player of a harp who fights big guys, but he becomes a prophet of repentance. Maligned Matthew is made more than a money counter, but is the recorder of the Savior's life. Someone who can be transformed and shaped.

Nor is this power of God confined just to the covers of the Scriptures. God could take a German monk and make him a mighty reformer of His church. God does the same for you.

Please don’t exclude yourself from that list.

Do not hide behind false modesty

For the Spirit of God has power. God sees in men and women things that they never could have imagined, no, not in their wildest of dreams. God sees things that are wonderful, magnificent, monumental. God sees these gifts of the Spirit, because He is the one who put them there in the first place.

How does Saint Paul say it: "You are not their own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with their body."

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, because of Jesus’ cleansing blood I am not what I was. Because of the Holy Spirit’s power, I am not what I will be. Keep me and make me into a person for  Your glory. In Jesus ‘Name , I pray. Amen.   

The music which introduces and concludes their devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html