The Holy Spirit and How People Change
by Bill Hull
When George Whitefield
was asked how many people were saved in a meeting where he had
preached, he answered, “I don’t know. We should know more in six
months.” Whenever the gospel is preached, we know that God works to
convert people. But even Jesus indicated in the parable of the sower
that we cannot judge if a person is converted by an immediate response
(Mark 4:1–20). Outward appearances can be deceiving. Like in the seed in
the parable, some people grow at first, but in the end they bear no
fruit. Jesus teaches that we will know if people are true disciples if
they bears fruit over time.
In Conversion and Discipleship,
I discuss how salvation is both an event and a process. We are saved,
yet we are also being saved. But what actually happens within people to
effect transformation? How do we change? How does the inward
transformation we experience manifest in our decisions and conduct? The
answer is to all of these questions is the Holy Spirit. This process of
change can’t possibly happen without the presence and work of the Holy
Spirit.
How the Spirit Works
The Holy Spirit is
in the business of making us new people by transforming our mind and
changing our character. The transformed mind informs the will, and from
the will, we act. We all know this by experience. However, we don’t
change by just wishing or praying it to happen. A simple exhortation to
stop doing something will rarely make a dent in overcoming habitual sin.
Some excuse their lack of progress by claiming they need more time to
come up with a more profound insight or plan. But the brutal truth is
that they use up this time in the same unproductive ways. We need the
work of the Holy Spirit to change us.
Keep reading this blog for more on this topic.
Follow Bill Hull on Twitter here and Facebook here.
This excerpt has been adapted from Conversion and Discipleship.
Image credit: Shutterstock.
Posted on Wed, January 4, 2017
by kris hull filed under
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar