Changing for the Better

God wants only the best for us.

Psalm 84:11b: No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Matthew 7:9–11: Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Luke 12:32: Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

 

God can and will help us change for the better, if we let Him.

2 Timothy 1:12b: I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

Philippians 1:6: Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 2:13: For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

 

But the natural man resists change.

Mark 7:9: And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”

Luke 5:39: And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’

 

Yieldedness to the Lord’s will is the key to beneficial change.

1 Samuel 3:18b: So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

Psalm 40:8: I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.

Isaiah 64:8: Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Jeremiah 42:6: Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the LORD our God.

Matthew 6:10b: Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

 

During the changing process, we must do two things: not worry about the past and keep our eyes on the goal ahead.

Philippians 3:13–14: Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4:18: So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Colossians 3:2: Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Hebrews 12:1–2: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.