You've Changed

 

You’ve Changed

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:
old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17

 

One day while outside, I saw a huge butterfly floating through the air.  The wings fluttered every few seconds helping to keep it on course as it seemed to glide effortlessly through the air.

That beautiful butterfly didn’t start out as a butterfly, nor did it have wings.  It had to go through a process of changes before it became the butterfly that we see flittering through the air. 

It had to go through a metamorphosis (meaning: a transformation or change).

That beautiful butterfly first started out as an egg which was laid on a plant by the adult female butterfly.

Over time, that egg eventually hatches as a caterpillar emerges to feast on the plants and leaves around it.  As the caterpillar grows, it will split and shed its skin at least 4-5 times.  Caterpillars can grow to approximately 100 times in size during this stage.

Once the caterpillar is fully grown, it stops eating and begins to spin a cocoon around itself as it suspends from a branch, hiding amongst the leaves for protection. 

There it will remain for anywhere from a few weeks, a month, or even longer….some have even remained in this stage for up to two years depending upon what kind of butterfly it will become.

On the outside to the onlooker, it looks like nothing is happening….it looks like its stuck in that form and position….but big changes are happening inside.

When the time is right, that caterpillar will shed its cocoon and slowly emerge as a beautiful butterfly, carefully fluttering its wings to dry them out until it can finally fly as it leaves the old life behind.

It is no longer bound to merely crawling on the ground – it now can soar to higher heights, seeing things from a different perspective and seeing sights it had never seen before.

Life is the same way – Life is all about change.

Seasons change……Times change…..Styles change.

We can see so much change even looking back at pictures from the past 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and beyond.

I’m sure we all can look at places we used to live or once visited long ago and think how much it has changed.

The once familiar is now unfamiliar.

I went back to visit my home town after living away for several years.  Some things were still the same but much had changed to the point I no longer recognized certain areas. 

If I hadn’t been following gps, I would have ended up lost trying to get back to a place I once knew like the back of my hand.

Roads had been diverted, bypasses had been installed around cities I once used to drive through, buildings had been torn down or renovated. 

Change made it difficult for my mind to recognize where I was and where to go.

 

 

People change as well…

We can look back at someone’s baby picture and we may possibly see some resemblance to what they look like now, but we can see clearly that they have definitely changed.

Babies grow into toddlers.  Toddlers grow into preschoolers.

Then they grow and become school age and start to lose that ‘babyish’ look.

Soon they grow and become teenagers with attitude that makes us wish they were little once again so we could just put them in time-out or down for a nap.

Before we know it, they’ve grown into adults and are having children of their own and we think, “Where has the time gone???”

They no longer look like the sweet little baby you brought home from the hospital.

They no longer act like the sweet little child proudly bringing you a handful of dandelions that they think are the most beautiful flowers which you accept with a smile and hug as if they’d just brought you a dozen roses.

Eventually time catches up with us all as we begin to see wrinkles develop and a grey hair appears, then another and another, until finally our head is snowy white.

We still feel like we’re the same young person we were when we turned 20 but the aches and pains let us know we’re not that same young person.

Each day we’re getting older and older. 

Change doesn’t just happen on the outside – it also happens on the inside

We may not be changing so much in looks as adults, but life’s trials have a way of changing who we once were inside.

We start out as young adults thinking we’re going to conquer the world! But situations and storms in life will change a person...sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

 

It is our choice whether to remain a victim or rise to become a victor!

We can’t do it on our own – only Jesus can transform us into what we are supposed to be in Christ.

People who are addicted to alcohol, nicotine, or drugs cannot overcome the cravings and desires for the old sinful habits on their own.   Only the power of the Holy Ghost can truly deliver and set a person free from who they used to be.....through the new birth experience.

Once we’ve repented of our sins, been baptized in Jesus name, and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost speaking in other tongues – we do not instantly become perfected, but we have begun living a new life.

Paul taught in 2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:
old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.

It’s not, “Aha! I’ve arrived!” and we’ll never struggle in this flesh again, but it’s the beginning of the process of changing and transforming into His image. 

It’s the beginning of learning to walk in Jesus’ footsteps – to walk like Jesus; to talk like Jesus; to become like Jesus - just as a baby who is first learning to walk, and talk, growing little by little into maturity.

That Scripture also says “old things are passed away.”

When we become a new creature in Christ, we won’t do the same sinful things that we used to do.

And they that are Christ’s
have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Galatians 5:24

This flesh/the old carnal man of sin wants to do sinful things but as a new creature in Christ, we have to crucify and deny the flesh of those old sinful habits, affections, and lusts.   

 

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man,
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Ephesians 4:22-24

The old man wants to lie and deceive. But the new man grows in spiritual maturity to understand that even a ‘little white lie’ is still a lie and a sin in the eyes of God.  (Eph 4:25)

The old man wants to steal out of covetousness and greed.  But as the new man grows in spiritual maturity, he/she comes to realize stealing is a sin that will keep us out of Heaven.  And that if we want something, we must work for it so that we not only provide for ourself and our family but also that we’re also able to give to someone else who is truly in need. (Eph 4:28)

The old man wants to gossip and backbite, cuss or lash out with harsh words in anger, but the new creature in Christ learns that this grieves the Holy Spirit of God.  The new creature learns to bridle the tongue and speak only what pleases God realizing that one day we’ll have to answer to God for every word spoken. (Eph 4:29-32 + Col. 3:8-9 + Matthew 12:36)  

The old man would have unclean thoughts and feelings.  The old man would sit and listen to or watch things they shouldn’t.  The old man would do things that are contrary (opposite) to the ways of God. But a true born again Christian feels the uncleanness of that type of talking and living and the spirit behind them.  The new man recognizes those things will keep them out of heaven. (Eph 5:3-5 + 1 Cor 10:8)

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;
adultery, fornication,
uncleanness (physical or moral impurity),
lasciviousness (intense or uncontrolled lust),
idolatry (anything that comes first before God),
witchcraft (movies/cartoons containing it, horoscopes, fortune telling, etc)
hatred, variance (strife/quarreling),
emulations (jealousy/malice),
wrath (fierce anger), strife,
seditions (divisions), heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revellings (rioting), and such like:
of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past,
 that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21

The above mentioned actions are the ways of the old carnal man that will keep us from making heaven our home.  These are the things we need to ‘put off’, in other words = stop doing.

To be carnally minded is death;
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity (hostility/opposition) against God….
Romans 8:5-7

When a person becomes a new creature in Christ, family and friends may scoff and mock, not understanding the change in you.

1 Peter 4:3-4
For the time past of our life may suffice us to have
wrought the will of the Gentiles,
when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries;
Wherein THEY THINK IT STRANGE
THAT YE RUN NOT WITH THEM TO THE SAME
excess of riot (meaning: unsavedness G810), speaking evil of you.

They think it strange that you’re no longer doing all the sinful ungodly things that you did before coming to Christ.  Some will speak evil of you because you don’t. 

Some may even feel convicted about the things they’re still doing but don’t want to give up so they’ll apply pressure to the new young Christian, telling them that change is not necessary.

But keep standing for it is God, not man, that we will one day have to stand before and give account to.  And it will be a witness to them as they see your Christian life and conduct.

Life is about change.   The new birth is about change.

 

The altar is ‘come as you are’ but heaven is not.

We find this evidenced in the parable in Matthew 22 about the man invited to the wedding of the King, yet he would not change and wear the wedding garment required to enter.  The King had opened the invitation to whosoever will – Come!  But there had to be a change out of their old filthy garments into the new clean ones provided – they had to make that change. 

This man refused to change. He thought he could come as he was and stay as he was.  This angered the King.  Those who came would receive the benefits of the feast and the King’s table.   But the requirement was CHANGE.  This man refused.  He wanted to live his own way and do things his own way.  The King ordered the man to be bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Some may think that sounds harsh but Jesus paid the ultimate and supreme price to purchase us – we are bought with a price, therefore, we are to glorify God in our BODY AND IN OUR SPIRIT.   (1 Cor 6:20)

What the King asks of us in return pales in comparison to the price He paid so that we may feast at His table.   But we must make the choice to CHANGE to be more like Him.

The altar (repentance) is where we crucify the old man and die out to the old carnal sinful ways.

Baptism is where we bury the old man of sin. (Romans 6:3-6 + Col 2:12)

So that with the help of the Holy Ghost we can walk in the newness of life. (Rom. 6:4 + 8:10)

The new birth is about becoming a NEW CREATURE in Christ.

The new birth is about old things passing away and all things becoming new.

So the next time someone looks at you and says, “you’ve changed.” Smile at them and respond, “Thank you! Yes, I have.  We’re supposed to.”