Good Morning,

I hope you are having a great week.  Several of you have inquired about my scratchy voice on Sunday.  Rosemary says I still sound like a frog, but I think I’m getting better.  I told her that if she kissed me I might turn into a handsome prince.  She just gave me one of those looks!

Hopefully you are now a couple of days into our Extreme Makeover Holiness Edition Devotional Guide (we still have copies available if you need one).  The goal of the current preaching series and this 40 day emphasis is to challenge all of us to live fully devoted Spirit-filled, holy lives.  I am convinced God must first do a work in our hearts before he can use us to influence the world around us.

Max Lucado in his book  Just Like Jesus, makes this amazing statement:
“God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way.  He wants you to be just like Jesus.”

When you invited Jesus into your heart and life … when you opened the door, Jesus moved in (Rev. 3:20).  Through the Holy Spirit He dwells within you and His desire is to change you “into His likeness from one degree of glory to another” (II Cor. 3:18 RSV).  Paul explains it this way:  “Strange as it seems, we Christians actually do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ” (I Cor. 2:16 TLB).

Yet, we still wonder.  If I have Jesus living within me why do I still hate traffic jams?  Why do I lose my patience with my children?  Why does that loud-mouthed guy in the corner office irritate me so?

Maybe part of the answer is illustrated in a story of a lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century.  She was quite wealthy but also quite frugal.  The people were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home.

Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appeared at her door.  He asked if her electricity was working well, and she assured him it was.  “I’m wondering if you can explain something to me,” he said.  “Your meter shows scarcely any usage.  Are you using your power?”

“Certainly,” she answered.  “Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough to light my candles; then I turn them off.”

She was tapped in to the power, but she didn’t use it.  Her house was connected but not altered.  Let’s not make the same mistake.  We’ve trusted Christ for salvation but we stop there.  We resist transformation.  We may occasionally flip the switch, but most of the time we settle for living in shadows.  What would happen if we left the light on?  Let’s allow the Lord to change our heart and make us more like Him.  

Growing in Christ,
 Pastor Barry

P.S. Remember the Chili cook-off this Sunday night!