"Change"

They rarely talk about it,

Maybe it’s best they don’t,

‘Cause if they ever started,

I might have said I won’t,

Make the needed sacrifice,

To learn the things I should,

Become the man I ought to be,

Presuming that I could.

God, our loving Father,

While showering with grace,

Relentlessly deals with us,

To fit us for the race.

Weights that we have carried,

Sins that makes us fall,

Old hurts and resentments,

Our history and all.

He says because He loves us,

He disciplines His son,

And we cannot avoid it,

The race that must be run.

But, Lord, I ask for mercy,

For I don’t like the pain,

Of change although I need it,

Time and time again.

It sounds like I’m complaining,

I don’t mean to be,

But holiness and deeper still,

Just don’t sound like me.

Feet of clay up to my ears,

And rougher than a cob,

Fighting through the struggle,

To stop the devil’s rob.

The things the Lord has promised,

I know I will come through,

He is my redemption,

No matter what I do.

“…let us strip off every weight that slows us down…” (Heb. 12:1, NLT)

The Lord has promised to help us change by bringing discipline into our lives. The purpose of the discipline is to help us become spiritual weight-watchers. To drop what hinders us. Problem is, we are creatures of habit who become comfortable the way we are, not the way we ought to be. That’s just the rub, isn’t it? I want heaven and abundant life on the way. But I have a problem with the changes God wants to make in my life. It’s that old selfishness, and if I’m not careful, I will concede to it every time. And God has promised to use every challenge, especially trouble, to help rid me of selfishness. Some have described it as breaking, and I can understand the term, given the fact that I have “broken” horses. But, truth is, breaking is probably a bit harsh, and the Lord never is. Tenderly, but relentlessly, He asks us to change. Lord, help us cooperate.

Lord, help us strip off every weight that slows us down, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Grant Redden, grant redden.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Grant, and God bless you.