Human Instinct

It is our instinct to want comfort without a commitment to Christ ... to have peace of mind without compassion for others ... in other words, we want Christ for ourselves, and that, of course, never works. Christ denies these petitions of ours. To change, it takes a miracle, awareness and desire.

The awareness begins in a place like this, where we consider the whole counsel of God, not just the benefits we desire, but the blessings of God, which are always transformative.

Desire begins, like someone in AA, who's sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. We begin to desire something more than the self, and so begins a search.

Miracle is simply the love of God at work - the desire for the blessings of God, to see God's face, to have all of Christ, is a petition God honors, and God enters into the deep places of mind and heart, to begin a transformation.

Nothing quick, of course. For that would be mostly unprofitable for us. It took a long time for us to build our world without Christ; it'll take time to disassemble it and rebuild it with Christ. Every day, like a refurbishing of an old home, every nail pulled, every wall torn down, is one more step toward a new home. The dismantling is as important as the rebuilding.