Summer is winding down. Schools are starting soon. Our plans of taking some serious time off are fading fast. At least, next year we will have all the issues with the camper solved, and hopefully be able to enjoy the experience even more.
In other news,we have purchased a mobile home / RV park. I don’t know if this is wisdom, or just a sign of advancing senility. At any rate, it is a new thing for us. Usually, with a change of ownership, things don’t stay the same. So, as we take possession of this property and begin to make some needed improvements, people in the neighborhood are noticing those changes.
I see this as an illustration of what happens when a person comes to faith in the Lord Jesus. That person has a change of ownership. He goes from being a servant of the devil, to being a servant of the Lord. At that moment, the new “owner” begins to make changes and improvements in that person. These are noticeable changes, and others will see them.
In Ezekiel 36:26-27, God says to His people Israel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17). We also are given a new attitude of our mind, and a new self, created to be like God (Ephesians 4:23-24).
There are many other passages of scripture that define the changes that occur in the life of a believer as he or she grows and matures in faith. Just know this, if you have had this change of ownership, change is coming. It is change for the better, and it will be noticed by those around you.
A note of caution is needed here. If you think you are under God’s ownership, and there is no change evident in your life after a period of time, it might be good to take the apostle Paul’s advice: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you–unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).
In His amazing Love,
Pastor Jerry
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