But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name… Jo1.12 NKJV
To receive and believe is to become. A person is said to become when they are changing or developing into something else. And, it is quite something else that we are becoming in Christ. Yesterday a young lady at Wal-Mart unintentionally gave me too much change from my purchase. I did not notice until I got to the door that she had given me a twenty dollar bill instead of a ten. When I walked back and told her what she had done, both she and the man in line behind me, were visibly moved. The man looked at me and said, “You’re an honest man.” I smiled and replied, “Yeah, Jesus does strange things to people.”
Now the truth is that I am not an honest man. An honest man would not have considered keeping the money as was my first thought at the door. But, when I received Christ into my life those many years ago, I began to become, to become something quite different from my natural self. Scripture tells us that when we receive and believe Christ we were immediately adopted into God’s family. This of course does not mean that we immediately act like His children. It does mean that we begin to become like the change He has worked in us. We begin to become like His one unique Son. The change may be slow at first but the change is inevitable. Christians can no more take credit for these changes than we could for the color of our eyes. The catalyst of this change is the very life of Christ in us. Christianity is no self-improvement program. And, though I may not yet be a completely honest man, because of Christ I am promised to become one. The moment Christ enters a life someone quite new is created. 7/31/07 ts
Just me trying to be honest with God.
