22 Apr How to Have Lasting Change
I don’t know how your life is, but there have been times in my own life that I struggled with the same area time after time after time. It can be frustrating when we know God can help us change for good, but it’s just not happening. When that happens, I’ve found it usually comes down to one thing: until we let God get to the root of our situation, the outcome or fruit will never change.
John 15:7-8 says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
In this passage, we see both God’s intention and motivation for us. He desires to answer our prayers because He deeply wants to bring us into a blessed life. But in order for that to happen, we have a part to play– to remain in Him and in His love. So how do we remain in the full love of God? We see it well in Matthew 11:28-30, which says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The first part of love is accepting you right where you’re at. No matter how burdened you are, God says that He will always give you rest. But He doesn’t stop there. He goes on to give the second part of His love. He says to “take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” It’s that second part—the learning part– that we often don’t like. But it’s leaving it out that causes us to stay stuck. Until we fix the root, we’ll never see the fruit. So how can we get better at this? I believe there are three things we should focus on. The first is to understand that our invitation in Matthew 11 is a call to a partnership with God. He is offering unconditional love as we work through our messes with Him by our side.
The second thing we must understand about this invitation is that we are being called to a new priority. As we learn from Him, we must start taking what He sees as important as important in our lives. We must line up our desires with His.
Finally, we have to view this invitation as a promise. When we allow God to work fully—fixing the root of our problem—we will bear great fruit. We will see lasting change. And we will find rest. Are you looking for rest from life’s struggles? Are you looking for true, lasting change? I encourage you to accept Jesus’ invitation fully. He never disappoints!