Half Changed

As I drove to school yesterday I was struck by the amount of trees that are already changing color.  Living in northern Michigan I expect this to happen in the fall, but have been a bit shocked at how early they have started their change.  One of my favorite times of the year in this beautiful place where I live is when the trees have fully changed colors and are at their prime peak of beauty.  It’s stunning and amazing and a picture from a camera just can’t capture it.  There’s something to be said about that full change; the transition from the old to the new brilliance of color. It reminds me of the scripture verse from 2 Corinthians 5:17, If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come. 

As I looked at that tree that I pass everyday on my way to school I noticed a few different things about it.  Of course being the speaker and writer that I am, I am always looking for ways to connect the things I see with our relationship with Christ.  Here are a few things that I found that might be an encouragement to you today—to spur you on in your walk with Jesus.

1.    The tree was only halfway changed:  Because I know the way the trees do their transformations every fall, I know the “rest of the story.” The goal of the tree is that all of the leaves will change and in a few weeks it will be a fully, brilliantly colored tree with hardly any green showing.  The old will be gone and the new will come.  But what if that tree just stayed halfway changed?  It looks nice and it’s accomplished part of its goal but hasn’t really transformed fully like it was meant to do.  Have you met Jesus as your Savior but found that you are only halfway transformed, committed or living with a little bit of color but the rest of you, though in need of change, just hasn’t done so?  God’s desire is for us to be totally transformed so that His brilliance and light can shine through you.  Maybe you have stopped part way through that full transformation that God wants to do in your life because it’s too hard, or you think that just going to church on Sundays will keep you with just enough color (change) in your life to keep you going (and just barely for so many people) or maybe it’s as simple as you’ve just kind of slacked off.  So what do you do if you have found that you have only changed part way and you want your life to be fully brilliant for Christ?  Jeremiah 29:13 says, that you will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all of your heart.  What a great place to start.  Seek Him and you WILL find him. 

2.    The tree had a hole in the middle that wasn’t filled with anything.  I’ll be honest; I like to see a tree that’s completely full of colorful leaves in the fall.  When I see a hole in the tree, I think something wrong or better yet I think, quick fill that hole because it shouldn’t be like that.  Oftentimes we are living a life for Christ and yes, we have been changed a bit, but we still have that hole in the middle of our lives.  Some of us leave it there hoping it will fill in but we don’t work at doing so or even ask Christ to fill it for us.  We wander around looking for different things to stuff in the hole to make us feel complete. Some might look for a relationship that they think will make them whole.  I remember from a goofy movie in the 90’s one of the lines that had one person say to the other, “You complete me.”  That’s a great line if we would say that to Jesus instead of a person.  Some of us like to try to fill that hole with alcohol, drugs, pornography, and other things that we know that we shouldn’t dabble in…..but we just can’t stop ourselves.  How can we fill that hole so that we are complete?  We need to let Christ be our everything. Oh believe me, I know that is easier said than done.  I’ve worked on it for years and am still working on it.  But once we truly understand that he is enough, then our hole will start to be filled with the good things of Christ.  A great way to start is by memorizing and living this verse: Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

3.    The picture of my halfway transformed, hole in the middle tree would have been great had the power line not gone through the top of it.  Uggg. It messed up my picture.  That one thick, cable line going across could not be moved.  Isn’t that about right in our lives as well?  The lines of the things that have happened in the past just stick with us and won’t ever go away.  If I had have taken the time and actually knew what I was doing in photo shop I could have gotten rid of that line and you would have never known it was there. That is not my specialty.  However, it is God’s specialty.  When we ask God for forgiveness for those past things that cause the dark lines in our lives, He can take them like the expert photo shop boss and erase them from our picture so all that he sees is the beautiful transformation that we are becoming.  We may still feel the remnants of those lines but on his end they are erased completely.  What a thing to be thankful for.  Is there a possibility that today you need to ask him to erase a line that is causing your full beauty not to shine through?  1 John 1:9 says it well, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Won’t you let him do that for you today?

Be encouraged my friends as God works in your life to make it that fully, beautiful, colorful light for Him that he desires. Sometimes we have to realize that he can only fill the hole in our lives and that the lines can be erased if we just ask.  As the worship song by Chris Tomlin says so well,

You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am

Don’t ever give up on letting him love you and transform you.  It’s what he desires to do.  He’s a good Father.