If we are honest with ourselves, we all have areas where we want to see change.

Fill in this blank.  I want to be more ______ (patient, kind, bold, loving, compassionate…) or a better _______ (husband, father, wife, worker….)

Will I ever get there? How do I get there?  Where will the change come from?
Do these questions sound familiar?  They do if you are anything like me.

If you are like me and you want to see change, here are 2 truths found in God’s Word that should encourage:

 God Is Love, Love Hopes All Things

1 John 4:8
God is love.

1 Corinthians 13:7
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

We cannot say that “God hopes all things” (1 Cor 13:7) in the same way that we would hope about future events.  After all, He knows the future as well as the past.  But, God is a loving Father that “pulls for” his children just like a good human father wants to see his children thrive and advance in the future.  1 John 4:8 says that “God is love.”  God is everything that love is, that love stands for, and what would define love.  He literally is…love.

So what does it mean that “God is Love” and 1 Cor 13 says that “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”  Using the father analogy, God is father that even when seeing character flaws in His child, He bears these things, He believes things will change, He hopes in that change, and He lovingly endures though that growth process.  In other words, God is working for us, not against us.

When God sees you fail, He offers forgiveness and grace to try again.

When God sees you desire Godly change, He is giving grace to make that change.

When God looks at your current character, He knows where you are headed and delights to get you there.

God Does the Changing

On top of the encouragement of having the creator of the universe on our side, we find out that God is also actively changing us to be more and more like Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:28-29
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son

Let these Scriptures inform your mind and heart about where you are headed in your future.  God WILL conform you to the image of his Son.  God WILL bring His work to completion in you.  God is doing the changing.  God has called you and will not give up on you.  God is not done!  His plan is that you will be made more and more to be like Jesus Christ is every aspect of your character.

So what is our part in this?

It is not complicated; not always easy because we are prone to unbelief, but definitely not complicated.  Believe in the God who is love.  Work hard to make life change.  And while believe and working, trust Him to do the changing.  He WILL do it.