The following is an excerpt from Sunday morning's sermon, but I felt it was something that others needed to read. Many times when a person loses their temper and reacts out of anger, they might say something like, "That's just the way I am." Or they might say, "I can't help it and I can't change." So the question is "Can a person change?" Consider the following:
1. The Bible says that change IS possible for a believer. In fact, the Bible says that if you are truly a Christian then you have ALREADY been changed! 2 Cor. 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." The whole reason Christ came to die for our sin was to change us.
2. We must do OUR part to change. Verses like Eph. 4:22-24, Eph. 5:1-21, and Col. 3:1-17 specifically tell us that change is not only possible but it our responsibility. Rom. 8:29 tells us that as a believer we have been predestined to be "conformed to the image of His Son." To be conformed to something means change must occur. So, when we see an area of our life that does not glorify God, that area must change.
Heb. 12:1 says we are to "..lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us." It is OUR responsibility to lay them aside. It is OUR responsibility to change.
3. Change is possible with God's help. Phil. 2:13 says, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." You cannot change in your own strength, but fortunately we do not have to. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit came to dwell inside you and will give you the strength to change.
If someone says, "I just cannot help myself. There is no way I can change." They might just be indicating the real problem. They just might be revealing that they cannot change because they do not have the Holy Spirit indwelling them and that is the problem.
I am so glad that God never commands us to do something that He does not give us the power to do. We CAN change for His glory!