Lose weight. Eat better. Stop smoking. Exercise. How many times have you made a commitment to change? It probably didn’t work, did it?
Know why?
Beyond some fairly basic things, it’s an almost impossible task to change ourselves. Successful change is usually the result of outside factors creating the motivation we need to get over the hump. Without those factors, our attempts to be different almost always fail.
The solution?
We need to allow ourselves to be changed rather than trying to change ourselves:
Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him. (1 Corinthians 16:18, The Message)
God stands ready to transform us from the inside out. Our responsibility is to let him, by saying Yes to his commands and truly following him. When we do, the things we wish were changed take care of themselves.
A tree doesn’t have to work to bear fruit; it bears fruit naturally if it’s healthy. Our lives are the same way.