When
my
mom used to make cookies, my brother, sister and I often helped by
putting
icing and sprinkles on them. Along
the
way, one of us would always end up challenging the others to pour
a bunch of
sprinkles into their mouth and eat them straight up.
Have
you ever tried a mouth full of cookie sprinkles? They are terrible! They have no real taste or
consistency. They look
nice, but without the cookie they
are not worth eating.
Over
the years, I have come to believe that many people see church as
being the
sprinkles on their cookie.
In
other words, we like to think that we are basically good people
who just need
to clean up a few bad habits and we will be fine! Church, then, becomes the
place to find some
sprinkles of goodness so that your normal life looks just a little
better.
However,
God has a different goal for us. “Therefore,
I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer
your bodies
as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true
and proper
worship. Do not conform to
the pattern
of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will
be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing
and perfect
will” (Romans 12:1-2).
Church
is not about trying harder and being nicer.
You can find nice people doing nice things all over the
place. Faith is not about
making your old life look
a little prettier. What
God is looking
for is a complete transformation, or a metamorphosis, like when a
caterpillar
becomes a butterfly.
We
need
a different scorecard. We
need a
different way to measure success and what is worthwhile. If we keep comparing and
competing with one
another as we have always done, nothing will ever really change or
get better.
Do
not
settle for being a better version of your old self. God, by his Spirit and his
power, is offering
the chance to start over and live a new life both now and in
eternity.
You
can
try to make your current life look better, or you can start over
in a new and
better way.
“If
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old has gone, the
new is here!”
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
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