Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature.

A couple days ago, I wrote that part of step 6 is allowing God to transform us internally, and I hinted at my belief that transformation also happens as a result of making different life choices.  My point in that devotional was to say that we could sit around waiting for a work to be done inside us, but we could also help that process along by making choices to live differently.  Transformation can happen from the inside-out, as a result of God’s work within us, and from the outside-in, as a result of our choices. 

To be honest, I don’t really know how internal transformation is supposed to work.  I trust that it happens, I trust that God works and moves in the world and individuals through His spirit to bring about various forms of change.  I wonder if this passage is even talking about some kind of “internal transformation”.  In fact, I think it calls us to action, in a way.  I suspect it is our responsibility to see to the renewing of our minds, and that we do this by comparing the world’s messages to God’s messages and committing to God’s when the two are at odds.  We see patterns in the world of greed, lust, anxiety, oppression, destruction, etc. etc.  The list could go on and on.  The patterns of God are more like love, care, obedience, selflessness, and sacrifice.  I’m sure there are many more.  When we can start to see how these patterns play out in our lives, when we can recognize them, we can start to respond in new and different ways.  We can start to discern God’s will for the world a little bit, and learn how to be decent human beings with traits like “good”, “pleasing”, and “mature”. 

So as we look at step 6, I would like to continue to emphasize that transformation is a “both/and”.  God both works in us to remove our defects of character, but we also can take some responsibility for changing our own character through altering our life patterns or, perhaps, simply choosing new life patterns based on new/different/changed convictions. 

Does that make any sense?

 The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?”

He answered, “Whoever has two shirts must share with the one who has none, and whoever has food must do the same.”

 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. They said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”

 He replied, “Collect no more than you are authorized to collect.”

Soldiers asked, “What about us? What should we do?”

He answered, “Don’t cheat or harass anyone, and be satisfied with your pay.”

 The people were filled with expectation, and everyone wondered whether John might be the Christ.  John replied to them all, “I baptize you with water, but the one who is more powerful than me is coming. I’m not worthy to loosen the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.   The shovel he uses to sift the wheat from the husks is in his hands. He will clean out his threshing area and bring the wheat into his barn. But he will burn the husks with a fire that can’t be put out.” Luke 3:7-17 CEB

Lots of helpless, hopeless, confused, sincere and well-intentioned folks show up at meetings in our community and ask, “What should we do?”  Just last weekend a guy came who was obviously impaired.  He wanted to know what to do to get and stay sober.  He was looking for some answers.  We have an experienced person in our community who usually answers this sort of question with a very short parable, of sorts.  “Well,” he says.  “My experience was that it took 20 years of going to meetings to acquire the habit of sobriety.” 

“Is this supposed to be encouraging?  I’ve been trying to get sober for years and nothing works.  What should I do?” asks the visitor.  (Maybe he’s not as “impaired” as he appears; he gets that this advice is tough truth telling.)

“What I’m saying is, although I’ve been sober for 14 years on a continual basis, I’m still not sure I’m the guy who can tell you what to do.  I’m saying I practiced staying sober a long time before I actually could live sober.”

In today’s scripture reading, the crowds who came out to listen to John the Baptist received an earful.  I guess you could say what they heard caused them to consider doing something different with their lives.  Step five is an earful too.  I imagine that thinking about the possibility of actually having God remove all our defects of character is pretty overwhelming.  This month we’re going to consider the possibilities and even the scary parts of becoming entirely ready to ask God to have his way with us.  While we devote ourselves to this topic, notice this:  God wants to redeem, restore, and provide people with the capacity to be decent human beings – something I think we can all agree would be a good place to start.

My goal for the month is to simplify, because I know that Rip reads these devotionals too early in the morning to absorb a lot of information.  This month I’m asking God to remove my defect of convoluted writing.

I will start by saying that this is one of my favorite passages in the Bible.  I think I like it so much because it is a fairly straightforward presentation of what it means to follow God.  When I was in seminary, I came across countless people who lived morally questionable (to put it gently) lives and their defense of this was some kind of warped understanding of God’s grace.  They seemed to think that grace was something that you just received and never tried to respond to in the way you live.  In fact, if you tried to respond to grace with a change of life that meant you were trying to “earn salvation” which meant you were “perverting the gospel”.  This makes no sense to me.  I think this passage shows us that the way we respond to God is by living changed/transformed lives. 

“What then should we do?”

In light of John’s speech, the crowd wants to know how to live.  He tells people to share. If you have more than you need, then give to someone who doesn’t have enough.  He tells people not to cheat.  He tells people not to bully and tells people to be satisfied with the money they earn.  These are some examples of what it means to follow God.  They are simple to understand but probably difficult to practice. 

Step 6 is part of this, “What then should we do?” process.  We have acknowledged God is in control, that we are submitting to him, and that we are trying to learn a new way to live.  Part of this means allowing God to transform us from within (in removing our defects of character), but it also means making different life choices as a response to His grace.  We share our things, we don’t cheat, we don’t use our power or force to manipulate people, and we strive to find satisfaction for what we have, even though others may have much more.  In this way, we participate in the removal of our defects of character by pursuing a different kind of character. 

How do our choices impact the transformation process?

I once heard someone say that he thought God would let anyone into heaven who could stand to live there. 

I’ve listened as others have shared their perspective on heaven, or asked questions about it like:  is it real?  Is it a place?  Is it a future home? 

In the book of Revelation, what happens in heaven affects the happenings on earth.

There is a lot I do not know about heaven. In fact, there is a lot I do not know about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, demons, thekingdomofGod, etc.  But this I notice:  our actions matter.  I read about it in God’s word, and I hear about it in the stories people share with me.  These stories may speak of the harm done by others or even self, but there are other narratives too – stories of hope, encouragement, kindness, and grace.

As we turn to a new month, I don’t want to leave this month without paying homage to the stories of wisdom, grace, truth, humility, and love.  God is love.  And it is because God is love that we can love.  Loving others, receiving love from others – may require new skills sets but our capacity to acquire them is in itself a tribute to a God who always runs toward us, seeking to save those he loves (and he loves us all without finding fault).

Confession is one part of a much larger story.  May you share your suffering in all its many forms, so that the larger narrative emerges in all its beauty, hope and love.  There is more to each of us, and the story – much, much more – than the things we have done wrong.

Recommended reading Proverbs 31

Question to ponder:  What might change, if you choose to take this next right step?

I pray that all of us are giving this invitation serious consideration – and not just for all the simple, downright linear reasons Proverbs has hammered us with.

One of the things that we need in all our communities of recovery and faith are other human beings with the decency to handle our confessions with care. 

Learning how to confess and be healed by God is a necessary pre-requisite for becoming a person equipped in both empathy and compassion as others share their own confessions with us.

If for no other reason than this urgent need for decent people to listen to the stories of others trying to become more decent human beings, this fifth step is worth taking! 

Recommended reading Proverbs 30

Question to ponder:  Could this step be a prelude to a new way of living?

1 The one whose wrongdoing is forgiven,

   whose sin is covered over,

   is truly happy!

2 The one the LORD

doesn’t consider guilty—

   in whose spirit there is no dishonesty—

   that one is truly happy!

 3 When I kept quiet, my bones wore out;

   I was groaning all day long—

   every day, every night!—

4 because your hand was heavy upon me.

   My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought.

5 So I admitted my sin to you;

   I didn’t conceal my guilt.

   “I’ll confess my sins to the LORD,”

   is what I said.

   Then you removed the guilt of my sin.

As we approach the end of the month and the end of the devotional series dedicated to step 5 let’s do it with hope and confidence.  When we make it a habit to admit our wrongdoing to God, to confess, we can have confidence that we will no longer be considered guilty.  We will be forgiven, and we will be happy.

I think it might be a better use of your time today to pray Psalm 32 to God in light of the last month spent working on step 5.  Perhaps this psalm will be a praise for something you’ve already experienced or perhaps it will be a request for something that you want to experience.  Either way, try to spend some time reflecting on its significance for you today.

It is hard to trust God, even when we want to.  May God grant us courage!

Recommended reading:  Chapter 29 of Proverbs

13 If any of you are suffering, they should pray. If any of you are happy, they should sing. 14 If any of you are sick, they should call for the elders of the church, and the elders should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Prayer that comes from faith will heal the sick, for the Lord will restore them to health. And if they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve. 17 Elijah was a person just like us. When he earnestly prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. 18 He prayed again, God sent rain, and the earth produced its fruit. 19 My brothers and sisters, if any of you wander from the truth and someone turns back the wanderer, 20 recognize that whoever brings a sinner back from the wrong path will save them from death and will bring about the forgiveness of many sins.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the devotionals so far talking about confession in terms of how it affects other people, your community.  Many times that conversation has been focused on admitting wrongdoing aloud so others can hear it but also so God can take some kind of action.  As we look at this passage for the second day in a row, take note of the importance of prayer in this passage.  When we admit our wrongdoing to God, this is done as an act of prayer.  Prayer here seems like something we can’t be too quick to ignore as we think about step 5.  In fact, it seems like it should be embraced.  Prayer can lead to healing, prayer can lead to the forgiveness of sins, apparently it can even affect the weather!  Our confession through prayer can have all kinds of positive outcomes, it seems.

When I talk about the importance of prayer I am not trying to heap more shame on those of you that don’t make a regular practice out of this.  Prayer should never be mechanical or something that is done at 7 am every day simply because that is when you schedule it.  Prayer should be something done in earnest and should never be a response to guilt over NOT having prayed or someone else pressuring you to do it.

Confession:  I do not pray every day.  Sometimes I miss a day.  Sometimes I even miss two in a row.  Did you know that the Bible never commands you to pray every single day?  I’m not trying to give you permission to be comfortable with never praying.  I am simply trying to free you to feel the desire to pray in the earnest moments when you have things you want to pray for and about.  I think prayer is important and I make sure that it is a regular part of my life as a pastor.  But even pastors miss some days.

I once baptized a man who told me that getting baptized was the only kind of “stepping” he needed to do.  After all, he quoted, getting baptized left him cleansed of all his past misdeeds.  He may have gone into the river a sinner, but he came out a saint!  This is all well and good, but upon a subsequent arrest for his fourth DUI, the judge was unimpressed with his baptism as the perfect solution to a life of addictive living (and the DUI made it easy for the judge to support his belief with data) and still sentenced him to prison for two and a half years.  This same gentleman is still talking about the unfairness of his conviction, the rigidity and perhaps godlessness of that particular judge and the limitations of the “law” to “right a man’s heart.”  I often think of this man as a personal reminder that all manner of great spiritual practices cannot replace the value of telling God, another and my own self the nature of my wrongs.  This fellow continues to live a bitter life filled with blaming others for all that ails him.  I wish his baptism had cleared all this up for him, but it did not.  And I think I have a hunch why.  He was hoping that this one act of submission would give him the gift of permanent peace.  The promise of peace is wonderful and real and I empathize with his desire to find it in large doses and hold onto it with all his might.  But it doesn’t seem that either God’s word or personal experience teaches us that this is how to achieve a peace that passes all understanding.  There is some work to be done, much like a farmer plows and waters and plants and fertilizes in order to experience the fruit that pops out “like magic” after all that labor. 

I need encouragement to do the hard work of confession, because, I too, long to believe that a good bath would achieve the same results.  But it doesn’t work that way, this life of loving God and others.  Part of believing will require us to do some things that seem difficult. 

Recommended reading:  Chapters 28 of Proverbs

Question to ponder:  Is there any truth in these scriptures that might help me know exactly what I need to share with God, self and another human being about my wrongs?

13 If any of you are suffering, they should pray. If any of you are happy, they should sing. 14 If any of you are sick, they should call for the elders of the church, and the elders should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Prayer that comes from faith will heal the sick, for the Lord will restore them to health. And if they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve. 17 Elijah was a person just like us. When he earnestly prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. 18 He prayed again, God sent rain, and the earth produced its fruit. 19 My brothers and sisters, if any of you wander from the truth and someone turns back the wanderer, 20 recognize that whoever brings a sinner back from the wrong path will save them from death and will bring about the forgiveness of many sins.

This passage has a little different take on confession than what we’ve seen and will see in other passages this month.  Here we see confession tied to forgiveness and healing.  Sometimes in the Bible we see that forgiveness of sins and healing are related.  Now, we might read this and come away with the idea that the Bible tells us that if we are sick then we must be sinning and in need of confession.  Instead I think it tells us that sometimes this is the case. 

Perhaps we should think about the fact that our physical health and our spiritual health are related, and we should consider what it looks like to be healthy in all these ways while also recognizing that we don’t always know exactly what is going on.  Sometimes we might get physically ill because of a spiritual problem or sometimes we might develop a spiritual problem because we’re physically ill.  Or sometimes you might get physically ill just because your kid is in pre-school and brings home all kinds of germs everyday from the other rug rats.  There is not always a relationship between the two.

While we don’t always know and can’t always speak to the exact nature of this relationship, one thing we can say about this passage is that confession helps.  Whatever it is you’re dealing with whether it be suffering, happiness, sickness, or sin confession and prayer can lead to healing. 

So as we start to think about step 5 and as we deal with the anxiety of trying to incorporate the act of admitting our wrongs to God and others into our lives, perhaps we can find some comfort in knowing that there might possibly be a benefit for you in there somewhere.