CHANGED FROM THE INSIDE OUT
by Max Lucado

When you believe in Christ, Christ works a miracle in you. You are
permanently purified and empowered by God himself. The message of Jesus to
the religious person is simple: It’s not what you do. It’s what I
do. I have moved in. And in time you can say with Paul, “I myself no
longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

"If I’m born again, why do I fall so often?"

Why did you fall so often after your first birth? Did you exit the womb
wearing cross-trainers? Did you do the two-step on the day of your
delivery? Of course not. And when you started to walk, you fell more than
you stood. Should we expect anything different from our spiritual walk?

"But I fall so often, I question my salvation."

Again, we return to your first birth. Didn’t you stumble as you were
learning to walk? And when you stumbled, did you question the validity
of your physical birth? Did you, as a one-year-old fresh flopped on the
floor, shake your head and think, "I have fallen again. I must not be
human?"

Of course not. The stumbles of a toddler do not invalidate the act of
birth. And the stumbles of a Christian do not annul his spiritual birth.

Do you understand what God has done? He has deposited a Christ seed in
you. As it grows, you will change. It’s not that sin has no more
presence in your life, but rather that sin has no more power over your
life. Temptation will pester you, but temptation will not master you. What
hope this brings!

Hear this. It’s not up to you! Within you abides a budding power.
Trust him!

Think of it this way. Suppose you, for most of your life, have had a
heart condition. Your frail pumper restricts your activities. Each
morning at work when the healthy employees take the stairs, you wait for the
elevator.

But then comes the transplant. A healthy heart is placed within you.
After recovery, you return to work and encounter the flight of
stairs—the same flight of stairs you earlier avoided. By habit, you start for
the elevator. But then you remember. You aren’t the same person. You
have a new heart. Within you dwells a new power.

Do you live like the old person or the new? Do you count yourself as
having a new heart or old? You have a choice to make.

You might say, “I can’t climb stairs; I’m too weak.” Does your
choice negate the presence of a new heart? Dismiss the work of the
surgeon? No. Choosing the elevator would suggest only one fact—you
haven’t learned to trust your new power.

It takes time. But at some point you’ve got to try those stairs.
You’ve got to test the new ticker. You’ve got to experiment with the
new you. For if you don’t, you will run out of steam.

Religious rule keeping can sap your strength. It’s endless. There is
always another class to attend, Sabbath to obey, Ramadan to observe. No
prison is as endless as the prison of perfection. Her inmates find
work but never find peace. How could they? They never know when they are
finished.

Christ, however, gifts you with a finished work. He fulfilled the law
for you. Bid farewell to the burden of religion. Gone is the fear that
having done everything, you might not have done enough. You climb the
stairs, not by your strength, but his. God pledges to help those who stop
trying to help themselves.

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until
the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6.) God will change you from the
inside out.

______________________________
From Next Door Savior
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2003) Max Lucado