Lord, please help me to change - Judith Couchman

LORD, PLEAS E HEL P M E T O CHANG ENo problem, sh e said . She would believ e i n the ne w me .Sometimes changing people' s attitudes about ou r changin gselves can b e a s simple a s telling the m th e truth . Or lettin g the mobserve u s for a while. Other times , peopl e jus t refus e to believ eit. They rub our nose s i n th e past , eager t o point ou t what resem -bles that "sam e old woman. "If we'v e honestl y changed, the n it' s time t o believe it' s thei rproblem an d no t ours—that mayb e the y haven't forgive n us, evenif we've aske d the m to ; that our ne w self points t o their old , unal -tered problems ; o r that change, i n general, threaten s them .We can embrac e thes e assertion s no t wit h revenge , bu t wit ha surrendered sou l tha t let s God wor k i n thei r hearts . W e can as kHim t o change thei r attitudes , just a s He's changed ours , and w ecan remembe r tha t transformin g the m i s the Hol y Spirit' s job ,not ours . And when w e leave their attitude s t o God, we're free t oenjoy the ne w person we'v e become .EHPERSONAL CHECKPOIN T1. I s someone refusin g to believ e tha t you're changin g o r hav echanged? I f so, why might thi s person refus e to believe it ?2. Ho w have you felt about thi s person? Why ?GOD'S VIEWPOIN THow life changes when w e know Christ :The love of Christ controls us, because we know that One died for all, soall have died. Christ died for all so that those ivho live would not continueto live for themselves. He died for them and was raised from the dead sothat they would live for him.From this time on we do not think of anyone as the world does. Inthe past we thought of Christ as the world thinks, but we no longer thinkof him in that way. If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation.lib