There are a multitude (literally thousands) of “self-help” books available. Everything from eating right to how to lose weight, grow hair, hair removal, dating, marriage, divorce, raising kids, kicking adult kids out of the house, and list goes on and on. Wanting to improve ourselves is not a bad thing. But sometimes the things we think we need to improve actually have nothing to do with our well-being, but rather vanity or worthless pursuit. Perhaps the greatest self-improvement program I ever went through was the summer I attended summer field training between my sophomore and junior year in college. I had been selected for the Professional Officer Corps (upperclassman) for the Air Force Reserve Officer Training program when I was attending Michigan State University. It was several weeks of physical fitness, mental challenge, team building, developing leadership habits, and basically instilling a warrior ethos. I was changed when I finished, with lessons and habits I would rely upon during my military career. I was no longer living as a civilian. I was a professional officer in the Air Force. I’ve been retired from the Air Force for 15 years, but I still to this day carry those same lessons. The single most important decision I have ever made in my life, came 38 years ago when I accepted Christ. And while I experienced a spiritual rebirth, as the saying goes, “old habits die hard.” My biggest change was my world view. I had to shed my old perceptions of how I came to be, my relationship with God, his plan for my life, and my view of eternity. Sure, there were those smaller things that no longer held my interest, but the biggest change was the lens through which I looked at life. Paul, in writing to the church in Ephesus, was telling his readers that they must no longer live as they used to. As he wrote, “in the futility of their thinking.” To accept Christ is to reject the world. We are in the world, but no longer of the world. Our lives must reflect a wholesale change in our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. Accepting Christ is the beginning of our journey. To not change leads to an unfruitful walk. As the great hymn goes, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back.” Are you living for Jesus?
