Imagine how happy you’d be if you could change the circumstances around you to better suit your needs and desires. What would life look like for you if that were possible? Where would you live? How would you spend your days? Envisioning your ideal life is the first step to being able to create it, and you’d probably be surprised to find out that you can indeed have all the things about which you are dreaming. Before you dismiss this out of hand, I encourage you to read on; there really is a simple secret to begin changing your life today, and it’s something that anyone can do!
The single key to changing your life and achieving all you ever wanted to achieve is simply to change yourself. Stop doing the things that are holding you back, and begin doing things that will propel you forward instead. One habit, one task, one choice at a time; compounded, you become the sum of your decisions. The reason we don’t change our lives is summed up nicely by James Allen in his classic book, “As a Man Thinketh”. Allen says that “Everyone wants to change their circumstances, but no one wants to change their life.” To say it another way, people want to change everything around them, but are not interested in changing themselves.
To relate this to a spiritual standpoint, consider what Anatole Francé once said: “The average man does not know what to do with his life, yet wants another one which will last forever.” Christians long for Heaven to escape the doldrums of this life. Yet how can we expect to be fruitful Kingdom citizens when we have ignored the commands of Christ in our present age? This is our practice ground, our arena of trials. Our purpose on earth is to learn to follow Christ, to obey His every command. Since that is apparently too burdensome for us, we start looking for other avenues to explore and then wonder why we don’t feel His power in our lives.
To become a productive Kingdom person, an obedient child and true follower of Christ, we have to change ourselves and not the circumstances around us. Jesus stated clearly what we should be doing with our time on earth (Matthew 25:31-46). How are you doing with obeying His commands? As you look back over the past week, what examples from your own life demonstrate how you fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, clothed the naked, sheltered the homeless, cared for the sick or visited those in prison? When was the last time you cared for an orphan or widow, or lent a helping hand to a single mom? How are you doing at keeping yourself living for Christ and not giving into the temptations of this world (James 1:27)? If we want to live our lives for Him, we must change the things we do to align with His ways. We must change ourselves.
We are saved by the unsurpassing grace of God through our faith in Him (Ephesians 2:8-10). True faith will be reflected in the way we live (Matthew 7:15-20). Don’t wish that things around you would change, but rather that you would change to more fully look like Jesus. Our lives are the prelude to eternity. We’ve got to begin practicing now before we reach our destination. We must not meet the Judge of the Universe empty-handed and unprepared; that’s too risky. Instead, change your behavior today and begin to live fully for His mission and His Kingdom. The power to choose is in your hands. You can change your life today.