Is Change Really Possible?
Several years ago, I determined to conquer my chocolate addiction. I opened up a bag of chocolate kisses and divided it into groups on the counter.
The first group contained the number of chocolate kisses that I, not the nutritional information on the bag, considered a serving.
The second group contained one less piece of chocolate than the first group, the third group contained one less than the second group, and so on.
The last bag contained one chocolate kiss.
You get the picture. I placed each group in a zip lock bag with the intention of allowing myself one zip lock bag a day of chocolate.
By the last day of my chocolate withdrawal rehab plan, the plan was to eat only one chocolate kiss and I would then be cured. This was my goal and the method by which I planned to achieve it.
This is what actually happened.
Days 1, 2, and 3 went fine. Something did not go perfectly on Day 4 and I ate the contents of every remaining zip lock bag.
As I looked at all the empty zip lock bags on the counter, I thought, “This is an impossible goal to reach!”
The truth is that the goal was not impossible. My plan didn’t work because I allowed the circumstances of the day to dictate a self-defeating response AND I really was not ready to give up chocolate.
However, when I came to the place where my clothes didn’t fit and I felt sluggish from eating too much sugar, the desire for change became much stronger.
It is amazing how long we will tolerate the misery of that which is difficult to change.
John 5:2-9 tells about a man who had experienced an “infirmity” for thirty-eight years. This particular man had been lying near a pool waiting for certain conditions to take place and hoping to be healed. “When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’”(John 5:6 NKJV).
When Jesus was conversing with people, He typically went to the root of the problem. It appears that the bottom line was that this particular man needed to decide if he wanted to be free of the condition he had been in a long time.
The man’s reply is interesting.
“The sick man answered Him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.’” (John 5:7 NKJV)
This man had two excuses: imperfect circumstances and people who stood between him and his blessing.
Can anyone relate?
Jesus didn’t address either excuse. He didn’t need to because when He is present and active in a situation, those excuses are mute. With Him, nothing is impossible.
Read how Jesus responded to His excuses. “Jesus said to him, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk.’ And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked …” (John 5:9 NKJV).
Verbal encouragement is nice, but Jesus gave the man something much better. He told him, literally, the next step he should take.
The man had to take that step he was instructed to take. And, when he did, the grace and strength of Jesus supernaturally supplied the strength he needed to take it.
I invite you to join me in considering one area where change has been needed for 1, 10, or maybe even 38 years, and contemplate these questions with me:
1. Am I allowing unfavorable circumstances or the actions of others to dictate my “condition?”
2. Do I REALLY want change? Am I willing to seek and allow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word to show me exactly what steps to take?
3. Am I ready to acknowledge, ask for, and receive the grace and supernatural help that the Lord’s involvement can bring to my situation?
May this be the year we believe God for that particular “crippling” condition we have been in far too long … and may we not only get up and walk, but may we run the race that is set before us without that weight that has been slowing us down for years. (Hebrews 12:1)
As we pray Hebrews 13:20-21 for our situation, let’s ask God to show us that one step with which we need to begin and trust Him to meet us there with His grace.
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom [be] glory for ever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21 KJV