How Far Are You Willing to Go with Change?

Picture by Christopher Lemercier, Unsplash.

Lately I've been seeing FB posts on change and repentance--or how the so-called, new normal, would change everything in this Covid crisis. The posts on repentance come mostly from the religious and "spiritual." It's good to see things like this, but I just wonder how far they're really willing to go with change and repentance.

Often, they think about doing better at religion (or in church or ministry) and being nicer to people when they talk of change and repentance. And I believe they're willing and sincere to go that far with it. In fact, they showoff their relief operations, good deeds and other ways of extending help to the needy. These are all good.

Except that they don't involve the kind of change and repentance we really need today--the kind that God requires. God wants our hearts to radically change and this means giving up everything we have and are doing--especially everything we boast about.

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. [1 John 2.16]

God wants us to give up our religion. Our "church ministries," as it were. Are you willing to do that? It's not just improving on what we're doing or what we have. It's giving them all up. It's not just sin, worldliness, love of money, idleness and other religious issues.

In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. [Luke 14.33]

In Revelation, the fault of the Ephesus church was forsaking its first love. It was not about doing better for God or achieving this or that. Another church's fault was being full of programs and activities that it looked so alive but it was really dead. Among the solutions was to go back to the things they did at first. And it was about radical change.

Our church and ministries are supposed to start radical life changes in people. A new creation in Christ--the old is past, the new has come. Instead, we just see church membership transfers as people in church just go on doing the religious things they did in their former churches. Worst of all is their drive to increase membership to up their income.

They still have Easter, Seven Last Words, Lent, Valentine's, Halloween fellowships, Christmas trees and seriously observe them like they're consequential in the spiritual realms--like, the devil would tremble in fear if he sees you decorating your Christmas tree or preaching about "I Thirst."

Yet you see nowhere in church the things that Jesus actually did in the bible. Absolutely nowhere. Like genuine signs and wonders. Even evangelism and discipleship have completely different meanings today than it did in Jesus' time. Everything is done simply to propagate the church denomination they belong to.

And this is among sins we need to radically repent from. It's idolatry of the heart. We need to become genuine servants of God serving in the Kingdom of the Son. We need to usher people to Jesus and disciple them to get used to the Jesus and Kingdom life, not to our denominational local churches to be taught the doctrine, policies and culture of our denominations.

As it is, church has produced only denominational Christians, not genuine Kingdom people familiar with the ways of the King and the protocols of His Kingdom--exactly like Jesus is. We have to radically change all what we do in church and repent from our own ways like we're throwing away menstrual cloth. Are you willing to go this far? If not, you're just doing religious things, only on a higher level.