Life Change?

Right now at Reality, we are doing a series of talks called “Life Swap.” Our intention in this five-part series is to introduce people to the truth about what actually happened in and to them once they put their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Our goal is to show them all the “perks & benefits” they have as a result of their new relationship with God.

Today, we did something different in our church services. Instead of the typical approach to communicating God’s truth…you know, the “I talk, you listen” format, I introduced a three-panel team to answer questions about how they deal with things like worry, unanswered prayer, adversity, personal sins and others. The approach was received well and seemed to answer questions people want to know about. But there’s a question I wonder about that wasn’t answered. Well, actually, it was never asked.

Let me explain. After we were done, people told me things like “It was good for me to hear this today” and “it was awesome” and that in a good way it “really hit them hard.” I love hearing things like this. But, I still have a gnawing question that eats at me every time I hear someone say how much one of the talks meant to them. That question is: “How much will really change in that person’s life.”

Now, I’m not trying to be cynical. I’m simply wondering about whether the experience was simply an emotional one—or a true spiritual one. Was it merely informational or did it go beyond that to become transformational?

So, my thoughts in answering this run two ways. [1] Yes, it has to be emotional and informational before it can be transformational. In other words, it has to both move the person and provide knowledge before life-change can happen. But [2] more than this, there has to be a personal decision made by the individual within like a 72 hour period to act on that emotion/information if lasting change or transformation is to be experienced.

Maybe this will be a talk I share in the near future, but for now, my hope and prayer is that each person who is moved in some way by God’s word will determine to take action steps so that what I call life-change can and will happen.

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